THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

DAVIS 


T.B.PETERS  :iILADA 


THE' LIFE 


OP 


SCHUYLER  COLFAI. 


BY 


REV.   A..    Y.    MOORE, 

OF   SOUTH  BEND,  INDIANA. 


WITH   A    POKTRAIT. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
T.   B.    PETERSON   &  BROTHERS; 

No.  30G    CHESTNUT    STREET. 


HOUSE   OP   REPRESENTATIVES, 

CLERK'S  OFFICE, 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  June  23<Z,  1868. 
DEAR  SIRSI 

The  portrait  of  Mr.  Colfax,  engraved  for  your  edition  of  his 
Life,  has  been  framed  and  hung  up  in  the  Clerk's  office,  where 
many  Members  have  seen  it.  All  concur  in  saying  it  is  the  best 
likeness  of  him  they  have  ever  seen,  and  I  agree  with  them  in 
regarding  it  as  strikingly  life-like. 

Respectfully  yours, 

EDWD  McPHERSON, 

Clerk  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

T.  B.  PETERSON  &  BROTHERS, 

306  Chestnut  St.,  Philadelphia. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1868,  by 
T.  B.  PETERSON   &   BROTHERS, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  in  and  for  the  Eastern 
District  of  Pennsylvania. 


I 

TO 


MES.  GEOEGE  W.  MATTHEWS, 


THE     MOTHBB     OP 


HON.  SCHUJLER  COLFdX, 

WHOSE  TRUST  15  HIM  AS  A  MAN  HAS  ONLY  TCKKV  EQUALLED  BY  HER  AFFECTION   FOR 

HIM   AS   A  SON, 

THIS     VOL.UM  E 


S  ^K ESPECTFU LLY  ^DEDICATED 

BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


BOOTH  BEND,  INDIANA, 
JUHE,  1868. 


LIBRARY 

[UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 

LIBRARY 

g067555jNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNi 

DAVIS 


PREFACE. 


IN  view  of  the  prominence  of  Schuyler  Colfax 
before  the  American  people  in  his  past  history,  and 
now  as  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  this  biog 
raphy  has  been  prepared,  that  they  may  become 
more  thoroughly  familiar  with  his  character  and 
worth.  It  largely  embodies  the  editorials,  letters 
and  speeches  of  Mr.  Colfax,  setting  them  in  the 
narrative  of  personal  incident  and  national  history. 
This  method  was  adopted  as  more  valuable  than 
any  other.  It  does  not  simply  tell  of  Mr  Colfax, 
but  introduces  the  reader  to  personal  intercourse 
with  him. 

The  writer  as  a  resident  of  South  Bend  for  many 
years,  has  been  intimately  acquainted,  both  as  pastor 
and  citizen,  with  the  private  life  as  well  as  public 
career  of  Mr.  Colfax.  He  has  had  access  to  the 
files  of  the  paper,  which  Mr.  Colfax  founded,  and 
for  twenty  years  conducted.  He  has  also  enjoyed 
other  sources  of  information  of  great  value.  These 
providential  opportunities  suggested  several  yeara 


26  Preface. 

ago  the  preparation  of  such  a  volume  as  the  present. 
It  is  now  given  to  the  public  with  the  consent  of 
Mr.  Colfax,  as  expressed  in  the  following  letter: 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  MAY  30,  1868. 
MY  DEAR  MB.  MOORE  : 

As  your  prediction  of  a  year  ago  has  been  realized,  I 
have  no  further  objection  to  your  publishing  any  sketch, 
more  or  less  full,  of  my  life,  you  may  have  prepared. 
As  you  were,  for  a  dozen  years,  a  fellow-townsman  of 
mine,  and  valued  friend,  I  suppose  you  know  as  much 
about  my  history  as  the  public  would  care  about  know 
ing;  and  although  my  engrossing  duties  here  leave  me 
no  time  to  revise  the  manuscript,  I  have  no  fear  that 
your  work  will  not  be  a  faithful  one. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

SCHUYLEE  COLFAX. 
REV.  A.  Y.  MOORE, 

South  Bend,  Indiana. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Schuyler  Colfax — His  Birth — Ancestry — Early  Life — Removal 
to  Indiana — Senate  Reporter — St.  Joseph  Valley  Register.....  33 

CHAPTER  II. 

Earnest  Whig  —  Persevere  —  General  Taylor  —  Biographical 
Sketch — Advocated  for  Presidency — National  Convention  of 
1848 38 

CHAPTER  III. 

New  issues — Wilmot  Proviso — Knell  of  the  Peculiar  Institution 
— Indiana  State  Convention — Bank  Question — Opposition  to 
the  separate  Article  of  Constitution 45 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Nominated  for  Congress — Competitor — Stumping — Tarrying  at 
Jericho — Congressional  Chair  and  Conscience — Defeat — Dele 
gate  to  National  Convention  of  1851 — Stirring  Scenes 51 

CHAPTER  V. 

General  Scott — Whig  Party — Cause  of  its  Defeat — Hope  for  the 
Future — Steadfastness — Thirty-third  Congress — Senate  Terri 
torial  Committee — Repeal  of  Missouri  Compromise  Reported.  59 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Nebraska  Bill— Origin  of  Missouri  Compromise — Injustice  of 
its  Repeal — Action  of  Senator  Douglas — Thomas  F.  Marshall, 
of  Kentucky — Enlisting  under  the  Banner  of  Repeal 66 


28  Contents. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Final  Passage  of  Nebraska  Bill — Earnest  Protest — Refusal  of 
Nomination  to  Congress  in  185-2 — Acceptance  upon  the 
Nebraska  Issue  in  1854— The  Majority  of  1776 — Thirty- 
fourth  Congress — Unrivalled  Contest  for  Speaker — Worth  of 
Parliamentary  Skill — N.  P.  Banks,  Speaker , 75 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Editorial  Correspondence — Closing  Scenes  of  the  Long  Contest 
— Happy  Result — Letter  from  Mr.  Colfax  in  reply  to  an  Invi 
tation  to  Address  the  Republicans  of  New  York  City — A 
Golden  Truth 79 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Speech  of  Mr.  Colfax  upon  "  The  Bogus  Laws  of  Kansas"— 
Alexander  H.  Stephens — Holding  the  Ball  and  Chain — Re- 
nominated  for  Congress — Re-elected — Election  of  Mr. 
Buchanan  Predicted 89 

CHAPTER  X. 

Lecempton  Convention — Lecompton  Constitution — Senate  Ac 
cepts  k — Opposition  of  Senator  Douglas — House  of  Represen 
tatives  rejects  Lecompton — Committee  of  Conference- 
Proposition  Submitted  to  Kansas — Proposition  Rejected — 
Speech  of  Mr.  Colfax  in  behalf  of  Kansas — Interesting 
Letter 93 

CHAPTER  XL 

Administration  Defeat — The  Pure  Republican  Vote — Coalition 
— Ringing  Ayes — Mr.  Keitt,  of  South  Carolina — Crittenden 
Amendment — Horace  F.  Clark — Vote  of  Mr.  Harris,  of 
Illinois..  .  102 


Contents. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


29 


Mr.  Colfax  Re-nominated  in  1858 — Thirty-sixth  Congress — Mr. 
Colfax  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Post  Offices  and 
Post  Roads — Service  to  the  Emigrants  to  Pike's  Peak — Over 
land  Mail — Overland  Telegraph — Republican  Success  in  1860 
a  Duty — The  Famed  Motto  of  Augustine — Mr.  Lincoln's 
Nomination  and  Election — Mr.  Colfax  urged  for  Postmaster- 
General  1 09 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Home  Again — Historical  Retrospect — Deeds  of  Violence- 
Treachery  in  High  Places — No  Offensive  Ultraism  in  the 
Triumphant  Party — Essential  Change  of  Constitution  Re 
jected — Waiting  the  Development  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Policy. . .  115 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  Opening  of  the  War — The  Die  is  Cast— The  Heroic 
Defender  of  Fort  Sumter — His  Interesting  Conversation — 
From  Washington  to  Philadelphia  via  Annapolis  and  Perry- 
ville — Speech  of  Major  Anderson 123 

CHAPTER   XV. 

Civilians  and  Military  Service — Duties  of  Congress — Labors  out 
of  Congress — The  Death  of  Mrs.  Colfax — Her  Estimable 
Character 133 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Thirty-eighth  Congress — Mr.  Colfax  Elected  Speaker — 
The  Inauguration — Inaugural  Address — Opinions  of  the 
Press...  '37 


30  Contents. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Press  Dinner  to  Mr.  Colfax — Speech  of  Mr.  Wilkeson — 
Response  of  Mr.  Colfax 141 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Kindness  of  Mr.  Colfax — Homily  for  the  Thoughtful — Obliga 
tions  of  Journalists — Use  of  Experience — Social  Duties — Inci 
dent  from  Arnold's  "  Lincoln  and  Slavery" — Lasting  Friend 
ship 153 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Lecture — Education  of  the  Heart — The  Teacher's  Vocation — 
Elements  of  Worth  in  Character — Eloquent  Plea  for  Things 
Pure  and  Good 161 

CHAPTER   XX. 

Firmness  and  Boldness — Testimony  of  Colonel  Forney — Motion 
for  Mr.  Long's  Expulsion — Presentation  of  Silver  Service  to 
Mr.  Colfax— Speech  by  Mr.  M'Culloch— Response  by  Mr. 
Colfax— A  Friend's  Sonnet 178 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Re-election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  Pending — Mr.  Colfax  not  permitted 
to  withdraw  from  Nomination  for  Congress — Opening  Speech 
of  the  Canvass  at  Peru,  Indiana 190 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Important  Military  Events  of  1864 — Political  Events — Union 
Victories  at  the  Polls — Mr.  Colfax  Re-elected — His  abound 
ing  Labors — Banquet  to  him  at  Philadelphia 237 


Contents.  3 1 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

The  First  Entrance  upon  Slave  Soil — The  Constitutional  Amend 
ment  Abolishing  Slavery — Important  Events  during  the  Second 
Session  of  the  Thirty-eighth  Congress — The  Speaker's  Vale 
dictory  243 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

The  Contemplated  Overland  Journey — The  Last  Good-bye  01 
Mr.  Lincoln — The  President's  Assassination — Mr.  Colfax's 
Eulogy  upon  the  Martyred  President 250 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  Message  by  Mr.  Colfax  to  the  Miners  of  the  West 
—The  Overland  Journey— Visit  at  Salt  Lake  City— Plain  Talk 
ing  with  Brigham  Young — Speech  at  Salt  Lake  City 277 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Return  of  Mr.  Colfax — Many  Alarmed  at  Indications  of  Change 
in  President  Johnson — Mr.  Colfax  in  the  quiet  of  his  Home 
Determines  his  Duty — Serenade  Speech  at  Washington — The 
President  not  Pleased — Mr.  Colfax  Re-elected  Speaker — Inau 
gural — Presides  at  Final  Anniversary  of  United  States  Chris 
tian  Commission 283 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Breach  between  the  President  and  Congress — The  Civil  Rights 
Bill  Passed  over  the  President's  Veto — Serenade  Speech  of  Mr. 

Colfax  on  that  Occasion  289 

<r 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Letter  of  Mr.  Colfax,  July,  1866,  to  Convention  of  Ninth  Con 
gressional  District  of  Indiana — His  Re-nomination — Reception 
at  Home — Re-election — Response  at  Washington  to  the  Wel 
come  Back  given  to  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress 295 


Contents. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Assembling  of  the  Fortieth  Congress— Valedictory  for  Thirty- 
ninth  Congress — Elected  Speaker  of  Fortieth  Congress — Inau 
gural — Testimonials  to  Mr.  Colfax  as  Speaker — B.  F.  Taylor 
— "  History  of  Thirty-ninth  Congress" — Thaddeus  Stevens — 
Ex-Governor  Thomas,  of  Maryland — Popularity  of  Mr.  Col- 
fax — Estimate  of  Ability  and  Character  in  Cincinnati  Gazette 
— G.  A.  Townsend's  Genial  Letter — Portrait  from  Putnam's 
Magazine v 312 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

Speech  of  Mr.  Colfax  before  the  Union  League  of  New  York — 
Serenade  Speech  at  Washington  upon  July  Adjournment  of 
Fortieth  Congress 327 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Fall  Elections  of  1867 — Speech  of  Mr.  Colfax  at  Cooper  Insti 
tute,  New  York 333 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Letter  to  Governor  Baker — Nominated  by  Indiana  Republican 
Convention  for  Vice-President — Chicago  National  Union  Re 
publican  Convention — Platform  of  the  Convention — Nomina 
tion  of  Grant  and  Colfax 374 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Reception  of  the  Nominations  by  the  Country — Filial  Regard — 
Serenade  Speech  of  Mr.  Colfax,  May  22,  1868 — Response  to 
Committee  of  Convention — Letter  of  Acceptance— Pillars  in 
our  Temple  of  Liberty— Our  Country's  Future— Conclusion. .  383 


THE    LIFE 


OF 


SCHUYLER   COLFAX, 


CHAPTER    I. 

SCHUYLER  COLPAX — HIS  BIRTH — ANCESTRY — EARLY 
LIFE — REMOVAL  TO  INDIANA — SENATE  REPORTER — 
ST.  JOSEPH  VALLEY  REGISTER. 

SCHUYLER  COLFAX  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
March  23d,  1823.  The  death  of  his  father,  and  also  of 
a  young  sister,  preceded  his  birth.  He  thus  became  the 
only  child  of  his  widowed  mother,  and  maternal  care 
had  a  double  part  to  perform  in  moulding  his  character. 
His  grandfather  was  General  William  Colfax,  who  was 
born  in  Connecticut  in  1760.  William  Colfax  was 
commissioned  lieutenant  in  the  Continental  army  at 
seventeen,  and  was  soon  after  selected  by  General 
Washington  as  captain  commandant  of  the  commander- 
in-chiefs  guards.  This  position  Captain  Colfax  held  till 
the  disbanding  of  the  army  of  the  Kevolution  in  1783. 
At  the  close  of  the  war  Captain  Colfax  married  Hester 

Schuyler,  a  cousin  of  General  Philip  Schuyler.    General 

(33) 


34  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

Washington  stood  godfather  of  their  first  child,  holding 
him  at  the  baptismal  font,  and  conferring  on  him  his  own 
name.  The  third  son  of  this  marriage  bore  the  honored 
name  of  Schuyler.  He  grew  up  to  be  a  quiet  business 
man,  and  became  teller  in  the  Mechanics'  Bank  of  New 
York  city ;  but  died  in  early  manhood,  transmitting  his 
name  as  his  sole  legacy  to  his  son,  the  subject  of  the 
present  sketch. 

The  early  years  of  the  life  of  Schuyler  Colfax  were 
passed  amid  the  stir  and  din  of  the  city  of  New  York. 
He  had,  however,  occasional  sight  of  other  scenes  beside 
the  great  buildings,  thronged  streets,  and  wharves,  and 
beautiful  bay  of  New  York.  Frequent  visits  by  his 
widowed  mother  to  friends  far  up  the  Hudson,  as  it  was 
then  esteemed,  in  the  famous  region  of  Saratoga,  gave 
him  frequent  views  of  the  scenery  along  the  North  river, 
and  of  the  beauty  and  glory  of  the  country.  His  school 
days,  which  were  in  the  public  schools  of  the  city,  were 
not  numerous.  They  were  ended  by  his  tenth  year.  In 
his  eleventh  year  he  was  employed  as  a  clerk  in  a  store. 
At  this  time  his  mother,  who  had  been  a  widow  for 
nearly  eleven  years,  was  again  married.  Two  years 
afterward,  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  as  a  member  of  that 
new  household,  which  had  sprung  from  his  mother's 
marriage,  he  was  upon  the  tide  of  emigration  that  was 
flowing  to  the  great  West.  St.  Joseph  county,  in  North 
ern  Indiana,  was  the  haven  sought,  and  there,  in  a  new 
village  named  New  Carlisle,  he  was  again  occupied  with 
the  duties  of  a  clerk  in  a  store;  but  under  very  different 
circumstances  from  those  that  surrounded  him  in  the- 
commercial  emporium  of  the  nation.  At  that  day 
Northern  Indiana  was  a  new  country  with  sparse  settle 
ments.  Much  of  the  wild  prairie  was  in  its  unmarred 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  35 

beauty,  and  the  oak  openings  were  like  continuous 
parks.  The  deer  fed  in  herds,  and  now  and  then  a 
prowling  bear  was  shot  by  the  skilful  hunter.  The  red 
man  of  the  forest  still  traversed  the  woods.  The  Indian 
trader  still  bartered  for  furs.  The  habitations  of  the 
new  settlers  and  the  germs  of  villages  and  cities  were 
scattered  over  the  surface  of  the  wild,  level  country,  like 
Virgil's  shipwrecked  mariners,  "here  and  there  upon  the 
vast  expanse." 

In  a  few  years  another  change  of  greater  importance 
occurred.  Mr.  Matthews,  his  step-father,  was  elected 
County  Auditor,  and  he  naturally  appointed  young 
Colfax  his  deputy.  This  took  him,  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
to  South  Bend,  upon  the  banks  of  the  beautiful  St. 
Joseph,  where  has  grown  up  since  a  very  pleasant  and 
thriving  western  city,  and  where  from  that  day  to  this, 
for  twenty-seven  years,  has  been  the  home  of  Mr.  Colfax. 

Here,  with  other  young  men,  he  was  the  member  of»a 
moot  legislature  for  two  years,  and  laid  the  foundations 
of  his  knowledge  of  parliamentary  law.  Here,  in  "  the 
county  town,"  he  was  brought  into  the  focus  of  politics, 
and  also  within  the  realms  of  newspaperdom.  Frequent 
contributions  from  his  pen  found  their  way  into  the 
columns  of  the  county  paper.  "The  boy  is  father  of 
the  man."  "Schuyler"  had  always  been  fond  of  news 
papers  and  politics.  When  a  little  fellow  rolling  around 
on  the  floor,  he  would  love  to  get  a  newspaper  and 
spread  it  out  and  pore  over  its  contents.  When  a  clerk 
in  New  York  at  the  age  of  eleven,  upon  the  day  of  an 
important  election,  going  home  after  his  duties  at  the 
store  were  done,  he  stopped  at  the  polls  of  the  third 
ward,  where  had  been  the  great  struggle  of  the  day, 
until  the  vote  was  announced.  In  the  formation  of  a 


36  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

habit  so  important  to  an  editor  and  politician,  described 
by  Bobbie  Burns  as  "taking  notes,"  he  put  down  the 
ballot,  and  hastened  on  to  Brooklyn,  and  was  at  the  polls 
there  when  the  result  was  made  known.  Some  in  the 
anxious  crowd  immediately  inquired  if  the  third  ward 
in  New  York  had  been  heard  from,  knowing  that  the 
issue  of  the  day's  conflict  would  be  determined  thereby, 
and  when  no  one  else  responded,  the  youthful  clerk,  to 
their  surprise  and  gratification,  read  from  his  memoranda 
the  official  announcement.  Before  he  was  twenty-one, 
Mr.  Colfax  had  passed  two  winters  in  attendance  at 
Indianapolis  upon  the  Legislature  as  Senate  reporter  for 
the  State  Journal.  This  was  not  a  very  lucrative  posi 
tion,  as  it  yielded  but  two  dollars  a  day.  It  had,  how 
ever,  other  advantages  highly  esteemed  by  the  proprietor 
of  the  Journal,  though  not  so  highly  prized  by  the 
reporter;  for  seeking  an  increase  of  his  per  diem,  the 
pfoprietor  demurred.  He  thought  that  the  acquaintance 
ship  which  the  reporter's  berth  gave  with  public  men, 
and  the  prospects  it  afforded  one  of  becoming  ultimately 
a  successful  candidate  for  Congress,  made  it  a  good 
thing.  The  young  reporter  humorously  offered  to  sell 
out  all  his  chances  for  Congress  for  an  additional  dollar 
added  to  the  per  diem,  but  the  proprietor  of  the  Journal 
was  immovable. 

In  1845  Mr.  Colfax  became  editor  and  proprietor  of 
the  St.  Joseph  Valley  Register,  a  paper  which  he  founded. 
Already  he  had  acquired  no  little  reputation  as  a  ready 
writer,  an  able  politician,  and  a  young  man  of  sterling 
worth  and  integrity.  The  contemporary  press  in  his 
own  and  adjacent  States  spoke  of  his  paper  in  the  high 
est  terms,  "  as  one  of  the  very  best  in  the  State,"  and  of 
its  editor  as  having  "a  thorough  acquaintance  with 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  37 

political  subjects,"  as  being  "  one  of  the  best  writers  in 
the  State,"  "  clear,  sound,  pointed  and  sensible ;  besides 
having  a  big  and  an  honest  heart." 

With  quick  perceptions,  warm  and  generous  heart, 
finely  constituted  social  nature,  and  inflexible  conscien 
tiousness,  Mr.  Colfax  had  indomitable  energy  and  un 
tiring  industry.  The  Register,  under  the  management 
of  such  an  editor,  steadily  grew  from  a  patronage  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  subscribers,  which  it  possessed  at 
the  beginning  of  its  existence,  until  it  became  the  largest 
paper,  and  one  of  the  most  widely  circulated  weekly 
journals  of  the  State. 

The  Register  was  a  pure  paper.  It  did  not  carry  tho 
delineations  of  the  revolting  and  demoralizing  scenes 
of  crime  into  the  households  it  visited.  It  was  the 
advocate  of  good  things;  an  earnest,  ardent  advocate 
of  temperance,  and  the  things  that  build  up  society. 
Many  a  fine  essay  worthy  of  a  better  fate  than  "  alms^for 
oblivion,"  is  found  in  its  old  files.  Its  selections  were 
of  high  character,  made  from  the  best  popular,  historical, 
scientific  and  literary  productions  of  the  press.  Sprightly 
effervescence  of  genial,  intellectual  power,  gleamed  in 
its  editorials.  Innumerable  letters  from  its  ever  jour 
neying  editor,  gave  the  geography,  statistics,  politics  and 
history  of  different  portions  of  the  country.  Its  letters 
from  Congress  will  give  fine  illuminations  of  the  past  to 
some  future  historian.  In  politics  it  was  first  Whig  and 
then  Republican.  There  was  always  a  frank  and  out 
spoken  expression  of  opinion  on  the  questions  before 
the  American  public.  It  was  wise  and  it  was  honest, 
and  in  the  judgment  of  a  veteran  editor  of  a  New  York 
daily,  "  always  communicated  to  a  daily  political  writes 
a  valuable  political  impression*" 


38  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 


CHAPTER  II. 

EARNEST  WHIG — PERSEVEKE — GENERAL  TAYLOR — BIO 
GRAPHICAL  SKETCH — ADVOCATED  FOR  PRESIDENCY — 
NATIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1848. 

How  earnestly  Mr.  Colfax  was  a  Whig,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two,  may  be  inferred  from  the  following  editorial 
i-n  the  Register,  of  September,  1845 : 

"  Keverses  may  and  will  dampen  the  ardor  and  zeal 
of  any  party;  but  the  true  man  speedily  recovers  from 
such,  mortifications,  and  labors  on  steadfastly  and  ear 
nestly,  knowing  that  the  gloom  of  the  present  will  be 
superseded  by  the  ultimate  triumph  of  his  principles 
and  his  cause.  What  though  one  may  not  be  able  to 
win  success  next  year,  or  the  next,  or  the  next?  Even 
though  we  could  scan  no  ray  of  hope  in  the  political 
horizon,  should  we  then  despair  or  yield  ?  Far  from  it. 
Such  thoughts  are  the  counsel  of  treason,  the  prompt 
ings  of  indolence !  Expediency  as  well  as  honor  and 
right,  forbid  that  we  should  listen  to  them.  The  page 
of  history  is  full  of  records  of  victory  won  by  untiring 
perseverance,  after  frequent  defeats.  It  tells  of  none 
gained  by  apathy  or  despair.  The  patriots  of  the 
Revolution  were  themselves  driven  almost  to  the  grave 
during  their  unyielding  resistance  to  the  armies  of  the 
British  despot.  Ever  faithful  to  their  cause  amid  the 
winter  snows  as  well  as  the  summer  heats ;  when  full  of 
fears  and  doubts  as  well  as  when  victorious ;  when  en 
compassed  by  enemies,  as  well  as  when  not;  when 
fatigued,  destitute  of  clothing  or  ammunition,  betrayed 
by  traitors,  outlawed  as  rebels,  with  odds  of  a  hundred 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  39 

to  one  against  them,  they  labored  on  fearlessly,  reso 
lutely,  earnestly,  hopefully.  A  Yorktown  came  at  last, 
and  their  trials  and  devotion  were  repaid  by  victory 
decisive  and  complete. 

"'  Persevere'  is  indeed  a  glorious  word.  It  has  been 
a  talisman  to  the  oppressed.  It  has  given  fortune  and 
honors  to  the  poor  and  lowly.  It  will  yet  give  success 
and  triumph  to  the  '  beaten,  but  not  conquered'  Whig 
party." 

Mr.  Colfax  was  a  very  ardent  admirer  of  Henry  Clay. 
He  felt  that  the  country  was  dishonored  when,  in  1844, 
Mr.  Clay  was  defeated  in  the  contest  for  the  presidency. 
The  October  and  November  elections  of  1846  gave  hope 
to  the  Whig  party  that  in  the  next  Presidential  contest 
they  would  be  victorious.  Mr.  Colfax,  in  the  ardor  of 
his  love  for  the  "man  that  would  rather  be  right  than 
be  President,"  would  gladly  have  given  his  influence  for 
Henry  Clay,  but  with  the  keenness  of  perception  for 
which  he  has  always  been  distinguished  in  reading  the 
political  signs  of  the  times,  he  saw  in  General  Zachary 
Taylor  the  available  candidate  and  the  coming  man,  and 
more  than  a  year  before  the  nomination  of  General 
Taylor  as  the  candidate  of  the  Whig  party  for  President, 
and  upon  the  ground  that  we  are  to  seek  the  advance 
ment  and  triumph  of  principles,  not  of  men,  he  became 
the  earnest  advocate  of  General  Taylor  for  the  presi 
dency.  Mr.  Colfax  thus  wrote  of  him  for  the  Register 
in  a  brief  sketch,  which  is  of  permanent  interest,  not 
only  because  of  the  fine  setting  in  which  is  placed  bio 
graphical  truth,  but  also  because  of  its  analysis  of  the 
military  character  upon  whom  the  highest  civil  honors 
of  the  great  republic  are  worthily  bestowed. 


40  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 


GENEEAL  ZACHAEY  TAYLOR. 

"'Some  men  are  born  great — some  achieve  greatness — 
and  some  have  greatness  thrust  upon  them.'  Thus 
reads,  in  substance,  a  pithy  apothegm,  penned  by  a 
writer  who  never  missed  his  mark  and  never  said  a 
foolish  thing.  The  history  of  the  world  furnishes  ex 
amples  of  each  of  the  three  classes  thus  sketched.  A  a 
hereditary  king  in  Europe  rises  before  our  mind  as  we 
think  of  the  first  division;  his  excellency,  President 
Polk,  as  we  turn  to  the  last;  and  brave  'old  Rough  and 
Beady/  as  we  look  for  those  who,  with  their  own  right 
arm,  '  achieve  greatness.' 

"  Truly  may  it  be  said  that  General  Taylor  has  been 
the  architect  of  his  own  fortunes — the  winner,  by  his 
own  merit,  of  his  just  and  deserved  popularity.  Since 
the  first  brevet  given  him  by  Madison  in  1813,  for  his 
successful  defence  of  Fort  Harrison,  with  a  handful  of 
men  against  four  hundred  British  and  Indians,  bestowed 
upon  him,  not  as  a  mark  of  favor,  but  as  a  just  award 
to  cool  and  unflinching  bravery,  no  adventitious  cir 
cumstances — no  favoritism — no  watchful  friends  in  high 
places — have  assisted  him  in  his  upward  steppings  to  the 
present  distinguished  position  in  rank  that  he  has  re 
ceived.  Every  battle  that  he  has  fought  he  has  won, 
in  spite  of  all  odds;  and  never  yet  has  he  fought  a 
battle  in  which  the  weight  of  numbers  has  not  been 
largely,  often  immensely,  against  him.  Triumphing  over 
every  difficulty  —  victorious  over  all  opposition  —  he 
has  proven  himself  to  be  the  great  Captain  of  the  age, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  America's  most  unassuming 
citizen. 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  41 

"  We  are  not  of  that  class  who  believe  that  merely 
military  talents,  pre-eminent  though  they  may  be,  will 
of  themselves  alone  qualify  their  possessor  for  the 
highest  civic  office  in  the  gift  of  our  Republic.  Far 
from  it.  Their  tendency  we  believe  rather  toward  the 
reverse.  The  fitness  of  the  most  of  military  chieftains 
for  such  a  post  is  marred,  first,  by  the  fact  that  their 
education  upon  bloody  battle-fields  makes  them  too 
careless  of  life  and  blunts  the  finer  feelings  of  humanity 
and  mercy  in  their  character ;  and  second,  because  the 
imperious  power  of  commanding-generals  too  often  en 
genders  habits  of  proud  dictation  and  self-will,  and 
renders  them  restless  and  violent  at  any  attempted 
thwarting  of  their  desires.  Bat,  almost  universal  as 
are  these  faults  in  the  character  of  military  officers, 
General  Taylor  has  proved  that  they  have  no  abiding 
place  in  his.  Plain  and  unassuming  as  he  is  in  his 
manners,  unostentatious  as  he  is  in  his  deportment  and 
daily  life,  his  soldiers  feel  that  they  can  approach  him 
as  a  comrade  with  no  fear  of  meeting  the  stern  bearing 
or  arrogant  rebuke  of  the  proud  and  haughty  General. 
Ever  careful  of  the  lives  of  nis  own  soldiers,  the 
humanity  of  his  kind  and  merciful  heart  extends 
also  to  those  of  his  enemy.  Witness  his  acceptance 
of  the  capitulation  of  Monterey,  partly  to  save  the  lives 
of  the  conquered,  and  in  relation  to  which  he  has,  for 
that  very  reason,  been  so  unsparingly  censured.  Wit 
ness  his  message  to  a  regiment  of  Mexican  troops  at 
Buena  Yista,  whom  our  soldiers  were  cutting  to  pieces, 
that,  if  they  would  surrender,  they  should  not  be 
harmed.  Witness  how,  in  every  battle,  the  tide  of 
bloodshed  is  promptly  arrested  at  the  very  moment  of 
surrender.  Witness  how  speedily  medical  aid  is  sent 


42  Life  of  Sckuyler  Coif  ax. 

by  him  to  the  wounded  of  the  enemy.  Witness  how, 
after  the  last  battle,  he  drummed  out  of  the  camp  those 
retaken  deserters,  who,  according  to  the  articles  of  war, 
he  could  have  had  hung  or  shot.  His  humanity  is  one 
of  the  finest  attributes  of  his  character.  Fearless  and 
bold  as  he  is  in  conflict,  resolute  and  determined  as  he 
is  for  victory,  no  man  springs  more  quickly  to  arrest 
the  flow  of  blood  than  he  does  the  moment  it  can  safely 
be  done.  Within  the  bosom  of  no  man  throbs  a  heart 
more  full  of  mercy  and  of  kindness.  Bright  and  beauti 
ful  as  are  his  other  finely  developed  traits  of  character, 
this  one,  in  our  eyes,  viewing  him  as  a  man  brought  up 
to  war,  far  outshines  and  outranks  them  all.  It  is  indeed 
his  crowning  excellence. 

"  The  military  career  of  General  Taylor  has  truly  been 
a  brilliant  one.  Not  a  single  defeat — not  even  a  repulse 
mars  its  constant  succession  of  victories.  We  have 
spoken  above  of  his  opening  one  at  Fort  Harrison  in 
this  State,  by  which  he  obtained  the  first  brevet  ever 
given  in  the  army.  Serving  afterwards  in  the  Black 
Hawk  war,  without  mixing  in  any  actual  fighting,  he 
remained  in  command  of  the  garrison  at  Prairie  du 
Chien  from  1832  to  1836,  when  he  was  called  to  Florida. 
Amid  all  the  defeats  which  disgraced  the  annals  of  that 
war,  Taylor,  in  the  only  battle  in  which  he  partici 
pated,  achieved  a  most  decisive  victory  at  Okee-cho-bee 
over  a  large  force  of  Indians,  strongly  posted  in  a  dense 
hummock — a  victory  which  virtually  ended  the  war,  and 
which  attained  for  him  the  brevet  rank  of  Brigadier-' 
General.  His  triumphs  in  Mexico,  despite  every  disad 
vantage  and  the  odds  constantly  arrayed  against  him,  are 
fresh  in  the  minds  of  our  readers.  And  while  on  this 
point,  we  would  say  that  though  Palo  Alto,  Resaca  and 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  43 

Monterey  are  victories  worthy  of  any  general,  the  battle 
of  Buena  Vista,  considering  all  the  circumstances,  will 
stand  out  on  the  page  of  History  as  the  greatest 
achievement  of  American  arms  since  Washington  led 
its  soldiers  to  the  bloody  fields  of  Yorktown. 

"  At  New  Orleans,  where  Jackson  achieved  so  much 
glory  and  renown,  the  opposing  forces  were  almost 
equally  matched — our  army  was  defended  by  a  strong 
and  ball-proof  rampart;  they  were  on  their  own  soil, 
fighting  for  their  homes,  their  property  and  the  honor 
of  their  wives  and  daughters;  for  'beauty  and  booty' 
was  the  British  watchword — they  had  every  thing  in 
their  favor.  At  Buena  Yista  the  little  army  of  Taylor 
was  crippled  by  the  withdrawal  of  nearly  all  his  regulars; 
it  was  in  the  heart  of  an  enemy's  country,  four  hundred 
miles  from  the  national  border.  It  was  attacked  by  an 
army  over  four  times  its  size;  an  army  fighting  for  their 
homes,  and  fighting,  too,  in  that  desperation  which  makes 
brave  men  even  of  cowards ;  an  army  led  on  by  the  ablest 
General  Mexico  possessed;  and  yet,  though  hundreds 
deserted  him  in  the  crisis  of  the  action,  though  the  over 
whelming  cloud  of  Mexicans  seemed  certain  to  over 
whelm  him  by  the  weight  of  numbers,  if  not  by  fighting, 
yet  did  old  Rough  and  Ready  again  come  forth  from  this 
fiery  trial  pre-eminently  victorious.  Again  does  he  send 
back  the  news  of  a  brilliant  triumph  over  an  army  of 
Mexican  veterans,  when  his  countrymen  had  at  best 
hoped  to  hear  that  his  wary  prudence,  foresight  and 
judgment  had  preserved  his  troops  from  being  cut  to 
pieces.  Again  does  he  astonish  the  nation  with  the 
tidings  of  a  victory  that  vies,  considering  the  odds  against 
him,  with  any  of  Napoleon's.  Again  do  his  brief  and 
modest  despatches  recount  the  details  of  the  battle,  as  if 


44  Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax. 

his  officers  and  men  had  fought  it  all  themselves,  while 
he  had  done  apparently  nothing. 

"With  all  the  brilliant  and  pre-eminent  talents  of  Gen 
eral  Taylor  as  a  military,  man,  his  plans  of  policy,  the 
language  of  his  military  despatches,  and  all  his  corre 
spondence  both  with  the  Government  and  his  friends, 
stamp  him  a  civilian  of  the  highest  rank,  and  prove  that 
though  he  has  so  successfully  studied  military  tactics, 
he  is  possessed  of  other  talents  that  would  cause  him  to 
adorn  any  station  that  he  might  be  called  on  to  fill.  The 
signs  of  the  times  are  plainly  indicating  that  no  action, 
save  his  own  positive  refusal,  can  prevent  him  from  being 
elevated,  by  a  grateful  people,  to  the  chief  magistracy 
of  the  republic.  He  will  go  there,  a  man  of  the  people, 
desirous  only  to  administer  their  affairs  as  judiciously 
in  the  cabinet  as  he  has  led  their  armies  in  the  field, 
conscious  that  the  measure  of  his  fame  is  full,  and  only 
anxious  that  no  act  of  his  as  President  may  mar  his 
honor  or  impair  the  confidence  of  his  countrymen. 
Entirely  estranged  as  he  has  been  by  his  military  position 
from  the  conflicts  of  politics,  he  will  go  to  Washington 
as  the  President  of  the  people,  and  not  like  his  prede 
cessor,  the  President  of  a  party ;  and  will  aim  so  to  act, 
that  our  whole  nation  may  again,  as  in  the  days  of  the 
brave  Washington  and  the  good  Monroe,  be  united  in 
one,  and  its  citizens  dwell  together  in  harmony.  Happy 
indeed  for  the  whole  country  will  be  the  day  when  he 
will  stand  in  front  of  the  Capitol,  having  taken  his  last 
step  of  promotion  upward,  to  swear  fidelity  to  the  Con 
stitution  and  to  the  interests  of  that  people  whose  votes1 
of  almost  acclamation  have  called  him  to  their  head. 
That  that  oath  will  be  faithfully  and  impartially  fulfilled, 
the  whole  records  of  his  past  life  amply  testify,  and  it 


Life  of  Schuyler  Colfax.  45 

requires  no  prophet's  vision  to  foretell  that  the  adminis 
tration  of  President  Taylor  will  be  as  happy  ai.d  us 
prosperous  as  any  of  its  predecessors  in  any  era  of  our 
republic's  history." 

Mr.  Colfax  was  a  member  and  one  of  the  Secretaries 
of  the  National  .Convention  of  1848,  that  nominated 
General  Taylor  for  the  Presidency.  The  sanguine  hopes, 
however,  that  were  founded  upon  his  election,  were 
doomed  to  disappointment.  Death  entered  the  White 
House  for  the  second  time,  and  took  away  the  head  of 
the  nation.  The  administration  of  the  government  by 
Mr.  Fillmore,  the  succeeding  Vice- President,  was  very 
different  from  what  it  would  have  been  under  General 
Taylor,  and  its  history  need  not  be  recounted  here. 


CHAPTER   III. 

NEW  ISSUES — WILMOT  PROVISO — KNELL  OF  THE  PECU 
LIAR  INSTITUTION — INDIANA  STATE  CONVENTION  — 
BANK  QUESTION — OPPOSITION  TO  THE  SEPARATE 
ARTICLE  OF  CONSTITUTION. 

THE  Mexican  war  and  its  issues  had  introduced  new 
elements  into  American  politics,  or  at  least  had  so  en 
larged  the  sphere  of  old  elements,  and  had  so  increased 
their  intensity,  that  they  were  as  new.  A  large  area  of 
territory  had  been  added  to  the  United  States.  Was 
slavery  to  be  introduced  into  the  new  territory  ? 

When,  during  the  Mexican  war,  the  President,  in  a 
special  message  to  Congress,  asked  for  a  considerable 
sum  of  money  to  be  placed  at  his  disposal  for  the  sake 


46  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

of  securing,  in  the  peace  that  would  soon  be  made 
with  Mexico,  a  large  portion  of  the  territory  of  Mexico 
to  be  added  to  the  United  States,  and  a  bill  was  intro 
duced  in  the  House  of  Representatives  for  the  purpose 
of  placing  this  money  at  the  President's  disposal,  a  hasty 
consultation  among  Democratic  members  from  the  North 
resulted  in  a  motion  by  Mr.  Wilrnot,  of  Pennsylvania, 
to  add  to  the  first  section  of  the  bill  the  following : 

"  Provided,  That,  as  an  express  and  fundamental  con 
dition  to  the  acquisition  of  any  territory  from  the  re 
public  of  Mexico  by  the  United  States,  by  virtue  of  any 
treaty  that  may  be  negotiated  between  them,  and  to  the 
use  by  the  Executive  of  the  moneys  herein  appropri 
ated,  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  shall 
ever  exist  in  any  part  of  said  territory,  except  for 
crime,  whereof  the  party  shall  first  be  duly  convicted." 
'  This  became  the  famous  Wilmot  Proviso. 

For  the  admission  of  slavery  into  the  southwestern 
territories  there  had  been  claimed  the  fact  that  over 
some  of  them  the  jurisdiction  of  the  original  slave 
States  had  at  first  extended,  and  also  that  the  others 
that  carne  to  us  by  purchase  from  France  and  Spain,  and 
from  Texas  by  annexation,  had  been  previously  occu 
pied  by  slavery.  Slavery  was  engrafted  upon  Florida 
and  Louisiana  and  also  upon  Texas  before  they  were 
parts  of  the  United  States.  But  slavery  did  not  exist 
in  the  territory  to  be  acquired  from  Mexico.  Twenty 
years  before,  Mexico  had  entirely  abolished  slavery. 
The  object  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso  was  that  slavery 
might  be  shut  up  within  the  States  already  occupied  by 
it,  and  that  the  free  soil  acquired  from  Mexico  might 
remain  forever  free.  The  Proviso  met  with  strong  op 
position  in  the  House,  but  it  finally  passed.  The  Senate, 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  47 

however,  was  not  permitted  to  vote  upon  it,  as  it  was 
among  the  last  things  passed  upon  by  the  House ;  and 
previous  to  its  being  acted  on  by  the  Senate,  Mr.  John 
Davis,  of  Massachusetts,  rising  for  debate,  persisted 
in  talking  against  time  until  the  hour  which  had  been 
concurrently  fixed  for  adjournment. 

The  telegraph  communicated  to  the  country  the  pas 
sage  of  this  proviso  by  the  House  of  Kepresentatives, 
and  it  was  expected  to  pass  without  difficulty  through 
the  Senate.  Of  this  proviso,  and  its  passage  through  the 
House,  Mr.  Colfax  thus  wrote,  and  it  will  be  remembered 
that  this  was  twenty  years  ago : 

"  The  whole  power  of  the  President  has  been  exer 
cised  to  defeat  this  movement.  His  patronage,  his  in 
fluence,  his  offices  have  been  thrown  into  the  scale 
against  it.  Thanks  to  the  firmness,  the  integrity,  the 
fidelity  of  Northern  Congressmen,  his  counsel  has  been 
spurned.  True  to  the  impulses  of  freedom,  the  popular 
branch  of  Congress  has,  by  its  action,  given  embodiment 
and  form  to  that  public  opinion  of  the  Northern  States 
which  declares:  'Not  another  inch  of  slave  territory.' 
It  is,  indeed,  a  manly  stand.  It  makes  the  pulse  of 
those  who  hope  yet  to  see  the  day  when  the  chain  of 
human  bondage  shall  be  broken,  beat  quicker  and  more 
gladly.  It  sounds  in  the  ears  of  those,  who  prefer  an 
archy  and  dissolution  to  a  gradual  emancipation,  as  the 
knell  of  'the  peculiar  institution.'  And  like  those 
Christmas  chimes,  which  Dickens  so  beautifully  por 
trays,  as  constantly  repeating  the  same  language  to  the 
poor  Briton,  so,  wherever  throughout  the  whole  South 
this  news  shall  speed,  it  will  seem  to  every  ear,  con 
stantly,  in  expressive  language,  to  ring  forth :  '  It  must 
fall!  It  must  fall!' 


48  Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax. 

"We  cannot  believe  that,  after  this  noble  stand  has 
been  deliberately  taken,  in  full  view  of  the  shrewish 
scolding  of  the  %  organ,  and  of  the  stern  indignation  of 
sincere  but  mistaken  Southrons,  in  defiance  of  the  thun 
ders  of  Executive  anger  and  the  blandishments  of  Ex 
ecutive  favor,  that  those  who  have  thus  publicly  and 
before  the  gaze  of  the  world  committed  themselves,  will 
recede  from  their  determination. 

"  It  cannot  be  that  any  of  them  who  have  thus  earned 
the  honor  and  praise  of  their  constituents  will  voluntarily 
prefer,  by  an  abandonment  of  their  position,  the  disgrace 
and  shame,  the  reproach  and  dishonor  that  would  be  in 
such  case  their  only  reward.  If  they  do  not,  there  will 
be  a  bow  of  hope  to  the  friends  of  peace  spanning  over 
the  miseries  of  our  present  war.  If  it  is  positively 
known  that  all  the  territory  our  army  can  wrest  from 
Mexico  is  to  come  into  the  Union  as  free  States,  thus 
girding  the  slave  States  with  a  belt  of  freedom,  our 
Southern  President  will  himself  begin  to  consider  the 
war  as  useless ;  and  the  advice  of  Dargan  of  Alabama, 
and  of  Calhoun,  great,  even  in  his  errors,  will  be  heeded. 
A  treaty  of  peace  will  soon  be  signed  and  ratified,  and 
the  country  again  become  contented,  prosperous,  and 
happy,  with  no  clash  of  arms  to  mar  its  quiet,  no  tales 
of  horror  to  thrill  through  all  its  borders." 

In  1849  the  revision  of  the  constitution  of  Indiana 
was  brought  before  the  people  of  that  State.  Since 
1816,  the  time  the  State  was  admitted  into  the  Union, 
the  constitution  had  remained  unaltered.  At  every 
period  when  the  Legislature  sent  down  the  question  of 
convention  or  no  convention  to  the  people,  the  answer 
had  come  back, "  We  desire  no  change ;  we  would  rather 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  49 

bear  what  errors  there  may  be  in  the  constitution  than 
hazard  it  being  made  worse  by  amending."  In  1828 
the  political  world  was  agitated  by  the  contest  between 
Jackson  and  Adams,  and  the  people  then  most  wisely 
resolved  that  their  constitution  should  not  be  touched  at 
such  a  time  of  bitter  party-strife.  In  1840  the  question 
was  again  submitted  to  the  people,  but  the  country  was 
rocking  with  that  fiercely -fought  contest,  that  most  ex 
citing  conflict,  acrimonious  on  both  sides,  between  Yan 
Buren  and  Harrison,  and  again  the  people  wisely  said  lNo.J 
In  1844  the  question  was  again  put.  The  waves  of  party 
strife  had  measurably  subsided,  when  compared  with  the 
tempest  of  the  previous  national  struggle,  and  though  a 
majority  of  those  who  thought  upon  the  question  at  all 
voted  for  a  convention,  but  one-half  of  the  people  alto 
gether  voted,  and  the  popular  verdict  was  too  equivocal  to 
warrant  the  important  step  of  calling  such  an  important 
body  together.  In  1849  party  strife  seemed  to  have  lost 
much  of  its  bitterness ;  it  seemed  a  propitious  time  for 
revising  the  State  constitution.  The  subject  was  again 
brought  before  the  people,  and  a  convention  for  the 
revision  of  the  constitution  determined  upon.  Mr.  Colfax 
had  taken  an  active  part,  editorially,  in  the  advocacy  of 
such  convention,  and  by  a  large  majority  of  votes  was 
elected  a  delegate  to  the  convention. 

In  this  convention  Mr.  Colfax  won  for  himself  no  little 
reputation  as  a  ready  debater  and  fine  speaker,  a  man  of 
generous  impulses,  of  conscientious  character  and  decided 
ability.  He  had  written  a  number  of  articles  previous 
to  the  calling  of  the  convention,  advocating  a  number  of 
changes;  such  changes,  too,  as  would  make  the  consti 
tution  an  instrument  of  principles  rather  than  of  laws, 
leaving  to  the  Legislatures  and  Courts  their  appropriate 


50  Life  of  S&huyler  Coif  ax. 

duties.  These  articles  were  very  generally  copied  by  the 
papers  of  the  State.  In  the  convention  he  was  the  suc 
cessful  advocate  of  several  of  its  most  imporant  measures. 
Previous  to  his  election  he  had  advocated  a  general 
banking  law  for  the  State,  in  opposition  to  exclusive 
chartered  monopolies;  a  general  banking  law,  however, 
which  should  provide  the  amplest  guarantees  for  the 
security  of  the  bill-holder;  a  general  law,  too,  which 
should  not  in  its  turn  become  a  monopoly,  but  which 
should  be  open  to  such  improvements  as  "experience,  a 
great  teacher  in  political  as  well  as  social  life,"  might 
point  out  as  safer  and  better.  In  the  convention  the 
bank  question  was  one  of  its  most  exciting  questions. 
Mr.  Colfax  was  the  author  of  a  compromise  section, 
authorizing  a  general  banking  law,  that  harmonized  con 
flicting  views.  "To  have  been  the  pacificator  of  this 
important  measure,"  said  the  State  Journal  of  Indianap 
olis  of  that  date,  "  is  certainly  creditable  to  Mr.  Colfax, 
and  is  evidence  of  his  high  standing  and  influence  in  the 
convention." 

Mr.  Colfax  took  very  decided  ground  in  the  conven 
tion  against  a  section  in  the  constitution  prohibiting  the 
further  immigration  of  negroes  and  mulattoes,  and  pro 
hibiting  those  in  the  State  from  purchasing  real  estate. 
The  old  constitution  contained  at  its  opening  this  decla 
ration:  "That  the  general,  great  and  essential  principles 
of  liberty  and  free  government  may  be  recognized  and 
unalterably  established,  we  declare  that  all  men  are  born 
equally  free  and  independent,  and  have  certain  natural, 
inherent  and  inalienable  rights;  among  which  are  the 
enjoying  and  defending  life  and  liberty,  and  of  acquiring, 
possessing  and  obtaining  happiness  and  safety."  The 
change  ^proposed  was  certainly  "not  a  step  forward  but 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  51 

backward;  not  a  step  impelled  by  the  out-gushing 
heart  of  humanit}7,  but  a  stride  backwards  into  the 
darkness  of  past  prejudice  and  oppression."  Mr.  Coif  ax 
knew  he  was  arguing  before  men  whose  minds  were 
possessed  by  a  strong  prejudice  against  a  particular  sub 
ject  and  a  particular  class  and  race ;  he  knew,  too,  that 
it  would  be  in  vain  to  change  the  expressed  will  of  a  very 
decided  majority  of  the  convention,  but  he  felt  it  his 
duty,  and  his  heart  prompted  him  to  make  a  speech  as 
able  as  he  could  "  against  the  proposed  measure,  and  in 
favor  of  equal  and  exact  justice  to  all  men,  regardless  of 
creed,  race  or  color."  But  the  effort  proved  fruitless.  The 
convention  submitted  it  in  a  separate  article  to  the  peo 
ple,  and  they  adopted  it  by  an  overwhelming  majority. 
To  the  honor  of  the  present  Supreme  Bench  of  Indiana, 
they  have  annulled  it  as  in  conflict  with  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  thus  affirming  as  just  Mr.  Colfax's 
arguments  against  it  sixteen  years  before. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

NOMINATED  FOB  CONGRESS  —  COMPETITOR  —  STUMPING 
—  TARRYING  AT  JERICHO  —  CONGRESSIONAL  CHAIR 
AND  CONSCIENCE — DEFEAT — DELEGATE  TO  NATIONAL 
CONVENTION  OF  1852 — STIRRING  SCENES. 

IN  1851,  when  but  three  years  past  the  constitutional 
age  necessary  for  a  seat  in  Congress,  Mr.  Colfax  was 
nominated  by  the  Whigs  of  his  district  as  their  candidate 


52  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

for  Congress.  This  nomination  was  unsought,  unex 
pected  and  unanimous.  His  competitor  was  Dr.  Graham 
N.  Fitch,  then  incumbent  of  the  Congressional  chair  of 
the  district.  Dr.  Fitch  was  an  able  and  experienced 
politician  and  "a  good  stumper."  According  to  the 
custom  from  the  beginning  of  the  Hoosier  State,  the 
candidates  stumped  the  district  together.  In  company, 
they  traversed  the  sixteen  counties  constituting  the  dis 
trict — rode  together,  ate  together,  sometimes  slept  to 
gether,  but  attempted  to  slash  each  other  most  savagely 
on  the  stump.  Seventy  appointments  for  speaking  were 
kept,  requiring  more  than  a  thousand  miles  travelling. 
The  candidates  rode  sometimes  forty  or  fifty  miles  a 
day,  besides  making  two  speeches,  sometimes  taking 
supper  at  midnight,  and  sometimes  not  at  all. 

The  candidates  began  their  canvass  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  district,  where  Dr.  Fitch  was  at  home  and 
Mr.  Colfax  was  a  stranger.  Dr.  Fitch  made  the  opening 
speech.  Just  before  sitting  down,  hoping  to  overwhelm 
his  youthful  competitor  with  ridicule,  he  advised  him, 
instead  of  attempting  to  get  a  seat  in  Congress,  to  tarry  at 
Jericho  till  his  beard  should  be  grown.  The  Doctor  had 
been  artful  and  unfair  in  his  speech,  hoping  to  use  up  his 
competitor  at  once.  This  allusion  to  the  tarrying  of  his 
beardless  competitor  at  Jericho  called  out  the  vociferous 
yells  and  derisive  laughter  of  his  partisans.  Before  that 
derisive  laughter  had  died  away,  Mr.  Colfax  was  called 
upon  to  come  forward  and  begin  his  first  speech  in  his 
first  canvass  for  Congress.  Stepping  forward  quickly, 
and  glancing  around  with  his  keen,  searching  eye,  he 
took  the  hearts  of  the  audience  captive,  as  with  the 
readiness  of  a  practised  debater,  and  with  a  just  indigna 
tion,  that  made  his  words  sound  like  the  twang  of  a  bow 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax.  53 

that  had  sent  forth  a  well-sped  arrow,  he  said,  "  I  was  not 
aware,  my  fellow-citizens,  that  brass  and  beard  were  the 
necessary  qualifications  of  a  Congressman.  If,  in  your 
judgment,  it  is  so,  I  must  renounce  all  hopes  of  your 
votes,  as  I  confess,  what  you  cannot  but  see,  that  my 
competitor  has  a  superabundance  of  both."  The  cries  of 
"  Good,  good,"  and  the  ringing  cheers  that  greeted  this 
opening,  told  the  Doctor  that  if  he  was  a  Goliath,  he  had, 
in  the  stripling  before  him,  a  David  to  contend  with. 

Upon  another  occasion  during  this  canvass  the  follow 
ing  noteworthy  incident  occurred : 

The  new  constitution,  framed  by  the  convention  of 
which  Mr.  Colfax  had  been  a  member,  was  then  before 
the  people  for  their  adoption  or  rejection.  The  clause 
prohibiting  the  immigration  of  free  colored  persons  into 
the  State  was  to  be  submitted  to  the  people  separately. 
This  provision  of  the  constitution  Mr.  Colfax  had  warmly 
and  strenuously  opposed,  though  in  vain,  as  unjust,  op 
pressive,  and  opposed  to  the  supreme  law  of  the  land. 
The  competing  Congressional  candidates  had  agreed, 
however,  beforehand,  that  the  issues  before  the  people, 
upon  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  and  of  this  sepa 
rate  clause  of  the  constitution,  were  not  to  be  brought 
into  their  canvass,  as  they  had  nothing  at  all  to  do  with 
Congressional  matters.  But  Dr.  Fitchr  knowing  the 
character  of  the  crowd  before  him,  and  that  many  in 
it  had  strong  prejudices  against  the  negro,  and  were 
strongly  opposed  to  the  course  which  Mr.  Colfax  and 
those  with  him  had  pursued  in  the  convention,  in  answer 
to  a  public  question  from  one  of  his  friends,  replied 
that  he  was  heartily  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of  this 
separate  clause  of  the  Constitution.  Mr.  Colfax  met 
the  unexpected  issue  fairly  and  frankly.  He  stated 
3 


54  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

the  previous  agreement  of  the  candidates;  he  showed 
the  matter  had  no  relevancy  to  the  Congressional  can 
vass,  and  then  fully  and  fairly  and  boldly  stated  his 
views.  "  These,"  said  he,  "  are  my  conscientious  convic 
tions.  If  you  ask  me  to  sacrifice  them  for  a  seat  in 
Congress,  I  tell  you  frankly  I  cannot  do  it.  I  would  not 
act  counter  to  my  convictions  of  duty,  if  you  could 
give  me  fifty  terms  in  Congress."  His  bold,  manly 
course  lost  him  no  friends  from  among  those  whom  his 
competitor  had  hoped  to  gain,  and  who  voted  so  over 
whelmingly  for  the  article  Mr.  Colfax  so  inflexibly  and 
boldly  opposed. 

Mr.  Colfax  far  surpassed  the  expectations  of  all  his 
friends  in  the  canvass  which  he  made.  He  was  defeated, 
however,  as  his  friends  claimed,  through  illegal  votes 
along  the  line  of  a  railroad,  then  in  process  of  construc 
tion,  through  the  district.  The  majority  against  him 
was  about  two  hundred. 

In  1852  Mr.  Colfax  was  a  delegate  to  the  National 
Convention  that  nominated  General  Scott  for  the  Presi 
dency.  He  was  also  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  con 
vention.  The  following  editorial  photograph  of  the 
convention  in  the  Register  presents  us  with  a  vivid 
picture  of  the  times : 

STIRRING  SCENES  OF  THE  CONVENTION. 

"  The  Whig  National  Convention  at  Baltimore  was  not 
only  B.  full  convention,  but  a  monster  one.  Every  State 
in  the  Union — far-distant  California  not  excepted,  and 
Texas  included — was  fully  represented,  and  many  of 
them  more  than  fully.  One  delegate  for  each  electoral 
vote  would  have  made  a  convention  of  two  hundred  and 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  55 

ninety-five  members — certainly  as  large  a  body  as  could 
be  kept  in  order  by  one  presiding  officer.     But  a  large 
majority  of  the  Southern  States  had  sent  far  more  than 
this  number,  to  which,  however,  every  Northern  State, 
without   exception,    had   limited   itself.     For   instance, 
Virginia,  with  fifteen  electoral  votes,  had  about  forty 
regular  delegates,  most  of  her  districts   having   three 
delegates  each.     Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  with  twelve 
electoral  votes  each,  had  twice  that  number  of  delegates. 
Louisiana,  six  votes,  had  twenty-five  delegates  on  the 
ground,  having  really  chosen  one  hundred  and  sixty  at 
her  State  convention.   Thus  there  were  fully  five  hundred 
delegates  upon  the  platform,  all  interested,  all  excited,  and, 
we  were  going  to  say,  sometimes  almost  all  talking  at 
once.     The  very  fact  that  the  division  on  the  prominent 
rival  candidates  was   to  a  great  extent  a  sectional  one, 
(Scott's  one  hundred  and  thirty-one  votes  on  the  first 
ballot  being  every  one  Northern  men,  unless  Delaware 
may  be  considered  a   Southern   State,)  added   to  the 
excitement  of  the  occasion.    The  thousands  of  spectators 
who  filled  every  place  in  the  galleries  and  on  the  floor 
where  a  human  being  could  sit  or  stand,  and  who  were 
not  chary  in  expressing  their  feelings  also  by  applause, 
hisses,  and  parenthetical  remarks,  did  not  tend  to  lessen 
the  '  noise  and  confusion.'     While  the  ladies — God  bless 
them ! — who  by  hundreds  thronged  the  gallery  allotted 
to  them,  could  not  be  expected  to  restrain  murmurs  of 
approbation,  though  they  always  had  the  good  taste, 
which  their  worser  halves  did  not,  of  never  manifesting 
dissent  in  an  offensive   manner.     "With  all  these  con 
comitants,  so  agreeable  at  mass  meetings,  but  so  noise- 
provoking  at  conventions,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  the  tumult  often  exceeded  that  of  the  Philadelphia 


56  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

convention  of  1848,  which  we  supposed  then  could  never 
be  surpassed.  Congressmen  looked  on  in  amazement  to 
see  the  convention  throwing  even  their  scenes  of  excite 
ment  into  the  shade ;  and  we  were  ourselves  reminded 
of  Ik  Marvel's  description  of  the  clamor  which  so  often 
reigned  supreme  in  the  French  Legislative  Assembly  of 
nine  hundred  members ;  and  looked  to  see  if  our  presi 
dent  would  not,  like  Dupin,  endeavor  to  restore  order  by 
putting  on  his  hat  and  ringing  a  bell  till  its  tongue  should 
silence  all  the  others.  But,  happily,  every  storm  is  suc 
ceeded  by  a  calm,  and  the  rainbow  of  promise  spanned 
the  horizon  long  before  the  convention  had  closed  its 
labors. 

"We  must  allude  to  two  or  three  of  the  stirring 
scenes  of  this  eventful  assembly.  The  first  was  when 
Botts  replied  to  a  speech  of  Choate's,  in  which  that  dis 
tinguished  gentleman,  in  an  eloquent  effort,  which,  how 
ever,  did  not  meet  public  expectation,  not  content  with 
eulogizing  Mr.  Webster,  had  gone  out  of  his  way  to 
sneer  at  General  Scott  as  '  having  a  letter  in  every  man's 
breeches  pocket.'  The  indignant  reply  of  the  fearless 
Virginian  raised  a  perfect  whirlwind  of  applause  amongst 
the  friends  of  General  Scott,  and  his  cool  disregard  of 
all  attempts  to  cross-question  or  confuse  him,  heightened 
our  former  opinion  of  his  ability.  We  need  scarcely 
add  that  Mr.  Choate  took  it  all  back. 

11  But  decidedly  the  wildest  scene  of  excitement  during, 
the  whole  session  was  during  an  encounter  between 
Cabell,  of  Florida,  and  Eaymond,  of  the  New  York 
Times.  The  former,  who  had  been  officiously  interfering 
in  every  thing  during  the  convention,  and  who  is  well- 
known  as  one  of  the  Southern  Hotspurs,  took  occasion, 
during  some  remarks  of  Mr.  Eaymond,  to  ask  him  some 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  57 

questions,  which,  in  their  language  and  inferences,  were 
slanderous.  The  prompt  reply  of  the  latter,  but  thirty 
years  of  age,  and  so  slender  that  he  weighs  but  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty  pounds,  was,  that  the  statement  of  the 
gentleman  from  Florida  contained  such  a  bald  untruth 
that  he  was  surprised  he  would  make  it.  Cabell  rose 
instantly,  pale  with  rage  at  the  imputation,  talked  about 
vindicating  his  character  without  the  aid  of  the  conven 
tion,  and  declared  that  he  would  not  submit  to  such 
language  from  any  person  whatever.  Raymond  as 
coolly  as  if  sitting  in  his  editorial  chair,  though  the  con 
vention  swayed  to  and  fro  with  excitement,  promptly 
turned  and  facing  Cabell,  who  was  about  ten  feet  distant, 
repeated  all  that  he  had  said  with  special  emphasis,  and 
with  a  clear,  ringing  voice  that  was  heard  to  the  remotest 
corner  of  the  vast  hall,  added,  'and  let  me  assure  the 
gentleman  from  Florida  that  whenever  he  utters  untruths 
with  regard  to  me,  he  shall  submit  to  whatever  I  may 
say  in  repelling  them.'  This  fearless  braving  of  South 
ern  chivalry,  so  unusual  amongst  Northern  men,  caused 
the  whole  convention  apparently  to  rise  as  one  man  and 
give  vent  to  their  feelings  in  prolonged  applause — 
bouquets  showered  down  from  the  daughters  of  the  sunny 
South  in  the  galleries  upon  the  head  of  the  brave  young 
Northerner — even  South  Carolina  and  Louisiana  dele 
gates  congratulated  him  personally  on  his  fearlessness. 
Cabell  took  back  the  offensive  question,  and  Raymond 
'accepted  the  explanation  as  satisfactory.' 

"Another  stirring  scene  was  when  Colonel  Williams, 
of  Kentucky,  declared,  on  the  forty -seventh  ballot,  that 
though  his  delegation  persisted  in  voting  for  Mr.  Fillmore, 
his  first  choice  was  the  heroic  Winfield  Scott.  Every 
sentence  of  his  eloquent  speech  was  applauded  to  the 


5  8  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

echo,  and  when  he  first  mentioned  the  name  of  our  great 
General,  the  bouquets  poured  upon  him  from  the  galleries 
without  stint.  His  concluding  eulogy  upon  the  old 
soldier  left  the  convention  in  a  perfect  whirlwind  of 
excitement. 

"But  the  most  gratifying  of  all  was,  after  the  fifty- 
third  decisive  ballot,  when  the  president  had  declared 
General  Scott  duly  nominated  as  the  Whig  candidate 
for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States.  A  resolution 
was  offered  that  the  nomination  be  made  unanimous. 
And  State  after  State,  whose  delegates,  it  had  been  de 
clared,  would  secede  from  the  convention  if  he  was 
nominated,  gave  in  their  cordial  adhesion,  pledging  all 
their  Whig  constituents  to  an  enthusiastic  support  of 
the  ticket.  The  whole  convention  would  sometimes  be 
upon  their  feet,  and  North  Carolina,  Louisiana,  Virginia, 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee  were  specially  cheered.  The 
scene  was  one  worthy  of  the  painter's  pencil,  if  he  could 
only  transfer  the  exuberant  enthusiasm  upon  the  canvas. 

"  Finally  the  convention,  after  five  days'  session,  ad 
journed,  with  hearty  good  feeling  prevailing  in  every 
section  of  it,  and  with  an  union  and  harmony  in  behalf 
of  the  ticket,  presenting  a  strong  contrast  with  the 
closing  scenes  of  the  conventions  of  1840  and  1848." 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  59 


CHAPTER  V. 

GENERAL  SCOTT— WHIG  PARTY — CAUSE  OF  ITS  DEFEAT — 
HOPE  FOR  THE  FUTURE — STEADFASTNESS — THIRTY- 
THIRD  CONGRESS — SENATE  TERRITORIAL  COMMITTEE — 
REPEAL  OF  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE  REPORTED. 

GENERAL  SCOTT,  however,  did  not  prove  the  victorious 
leader  of  the  Whig  party  that  he  had  been  of  the  armies 
of  his  country.  Of  the  defeat  of  the  Whigs  in  that  con 
test  and  the  future  of  their  party,  Mr.  Colfax  thus  wrote : 

THE  WHIG  PARTY. 

"  The  official  returns  of  the  late  Presidential  election 
are  not  yet  fully  made  up,  California,  Texas;  etc.,  being*  be 
hind  ;  but  their  summing  up  will  be  in  round  numbers 
about  as  follows:  Pierce,  1,500,000  votes;  Scott,  1,300,- 
000;  Hale,  150,000;  Troup,  Southern  Eights,  5,000; 
Broome,  Native  American,  2,000 ;  Webster,  Union, 
8,000.  The  total  vote  of  the  nation  will  foot  up  about 
3,000,000 ;  of  which  General  Pierce  will  have  about 
one-half,  or  more  probably,  a  very  small  fraction  over 
half. 

"  We  dissent  in  the  furthest  degree  from  those,  in  our 
ranks,  who,  since  the  defeat  last  month,  speak  of  the 
Whig  party  as  '  dead.1  It  is  galling,  we  know,  to  see, 
as  Mr.  Greeley  saw,  thousands  of  men,  who  called  them 
selves  Whigs,  vote  directly  for  Pierce  and  the  ascend 
ancy  of  Locofoco  principles,  in  order,  as  they  openly 
avowed,  to  revenge  themselves  for  their  defeat  at  the 


60  Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax. 

National  Convention.  But  this  shameless  recreancy 
does  not  in  the  least  impair  the  value  of  genuine  Whig 
principles,  the  necessity  for  a  Whig  party,  or  tjie  duty 
of  Whig  voters.  A  great  party,  a  great  cause,  may  be 
stricken  down  by  foul  treachery.  But  the  sleepless 
clock  of  time  ticks  on,  and  brings  around  at  last  the 
hour  of  retribution. 

"The  Whig  party  has  passed  through  bitterer  re 
verses  than  the  one  which  has  just  overtaken  it.  When 
its  champioDs  declared  manfully  their  resistance  to 
Executive  power,  and  the  popularity  of  General  Jackson 
rolled  like  a  huge  wave  over  the  country,  destroying 
nearly  all  who  opposed  him,  those  fearless  defenders  of 
principle  quailed  not,  faltered  not,  yielded  not.  In  those 
days,  as  now,  the  office-seekers,  the  camp-followers  of 
the  party,  deserted  to  the  ranks  of  the  victorious  chief 
tain;  but  the  faithful  champions  of  Whig  principles, 
undismayed  by  the  cheerless  prospect,  stood  fast. 

"That  dynasty  passed  away*  Its  powerful  and  pop 
ular  head,  whose  iron  will  had  bound  his  party  together 
in  unity  and  in  triumph,  issued  his  farewell  address  to 
his  countrymen,  declaring  that  he  left  this  great  country 
free,  prosperous  and  happy,  designated  his  successor, 
and  retired  from  the  Executive  chair.  In  that  campaign 
of  1836,  the  prospect  was  even  more  forbidding.  The 
members  of  the  Whig  party,  almost  disbanded,  certainly 
disunited  and  hopeless,  fought  in  different  sections  of 
the  country,  like  the  Banker  Hill  riflemen,  on  their  own 
hook.  The  Southwest  rallied  under  Hugh  L.  White, 
the  Northwest  under  Harrison,  the  Northeast  under 
Webster,  and  Martin  Yan  Buren  came  in  by  a  large 
majority  over  all.  The  State  of  New  York  he  carried 
by  over  28,000  majority,  larger  than  she  gives  now  to 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  61 

Pierce,  who  has  but  one  thousand  votes  over  half  the 
total  number  of  her  electors,  and  yet  the  defeated  Whig 
party  s^ood  fearless,  resolute  as  ever.  A  single  year 
passed  by  :  the  Conservatives,  incensed  at  the  destructive 
policy  of  the  administration,  forsook  it,  and  the  more 
readily  because  they  saw  that  the  great  Whig  party 
maintained  its  organization  and  would  stand  by  them 
effectively  in  the  position  which  they  took.  The  over 
whelming  majority  of  New  York  was  reversed  in  a 
single  year — the  Empire  State  repudiated  her  own 
'favorite  son,'  as  he-had  been  called,  and  struck  a  blow, 
that  paved  the  way  for  the  triumph  of  1840. 

"  The  fruits  of  the  victory  of  that  celebrated  year  were 
turned  into  ashes  as  the  body  of  Harrison  mouldered  in 
its  tomb;  and  his  successor,  like  the  viper,  stung  the 
party  which  had  warmed  him  into  political  life  and 
power.  But  despite  that  signal  treachery,  with  all  the 
official  patronage  of  the  administration  they  had 
elected  turned  malignantly  against  them,  and  recreant 
Congressmen  aiding  the  defection  by  going  over  to  the 
enemy,  this  noble  party  rallied  again,  purged  as  it  was 
of  its  camp-followers,  and  would  have  elevated  its 
chosen  leader,  Henry  Clay,  to  the  Presidency,  but  for 
the  fatal  influence  of  his  own  Texas  letters  to  Alabama. 

"Mr.  Polk  entered  the  Presidential  mansion.  The 
Mexican  war  followed.  The  Whig  party  generally  took 
the  ground  that  it  was  unnecessary  and  could  have  been 
avoided.  For  this  they  were  unjustly  denounced  in 
Congress  and  out  of  it,  as  traitors  to  their  country,  as 
preferring  the  triumphs  of  the  Mexicans  to  those  of  our 
own  arms ;  and  every  attempt  was  made,  in  every  way, 
from  the  message  of  the  President  to  its  echoes  on  the 
stump  and  in  the  press,  to  array  public  prejudice  against 


62  Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax. 

it.  Yet  in  1848,  with  all  the  prestige  of  that  war,  and 
of  its  annexation  of  California,  New  Mexico,  etc.,  against 
us,  it  again  achieved  a  national  triumph,  and  the  admin 
istration  of  Mr.  Polk  was  succeeded  by  one  thoroughly 
Whig  in  all  its  departments. 

"If  others  can  see  no  hope  in  the  future,  we,  with 
this  retrospect  before  us,  confess  that  our  vision  is  more 
sanguine.  There  is  yet  work  for  the  Whig  party  to 
accomplish — there  are  yet  victories  for  it  to  achieve,  if 
it  remains  faithful  to  its  principles  and  its  organization. 
In  the  hey-day  of  prosperity  the  name  of  Democracy 
'is  potent,  and  its  candidates  ride  on  the  topmost  waves 
of  popularity. 

"• '  Each  petty  hand  can  steer  a  ship  becalmed.'  But 
when  the  horizon  is  overcast  with  clouds,  when  experi 
ments  upon  the  currency  or  the  peace  of  the  country 
cause  revulsions  or  disasters,  financial  or  national,  the 
people  look  instinctively  to  the  Whig  party  and  its 
conservative  policy  for  relief.  When  the  Democracy  in 
power  are  tested  by  their  acts  rather  than  by  their 
name,  the  contrast  enures  to  Whig  success.  Thus  was 
it  from  1836  to  1840— thus  was  it  from  1844  to  1848— 
and  thus  it  will  be  again. 

"  The  Democratic  party  has  triumphed  at  the  recent 
election  because,  aided  by  divisions  in  our  own  ranks, 
it  has  drawn  to  its  embrace  the  most  discordant  mate 
rials  ever  leagued  together  to  achieve  a  triumph  over  a 
common  foe.  Thus  we  have  seen  the  Wilmots  and 
Yan  Burens  of  the  North,  and  the  Soules  and  the  South 
Carolinians  of  the  South,  regardless  of  the  vast  differ 
ence  in  the  views  they  professed  to  hold  on  slavery, 
leagued  together  in  the  same  party.  Thus  also  the  Pro 
tective  Tariff  Democrats  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  pro- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Colfax.  63 

tection-haters  everywhere  have  united;  and  thus  also 
the  Harbor  Improvement  Democrats  of  Wisconsin, 
Michigan,  etc.,  crossed  palms  with  those  who  denounce 
such  appropriations  as  both  unconstitutional  and  inex 
pedient.  While  free  soil  warred  against  us  on  account 
of  our  '  platform,'  cotton  stabbed  us  on  account  of  our 
candidate ;  and  when  the  State  elections  of  August  and 
October  proved  adverse,  those  in  our  ranks  who  cared 
more  for  spoils  than  principle,  forsook  us  for  the  party 
that  they  foresaw  was  to  be  victorious. 

"  It  seems  impossible  that  a  party  thus  constituted 
shall  hold  together,  with  its  numbers  unimpaired.  It 
seems  impossible  that  the  administration  can  justify  the 
hopes,  either  in  principle  or  patronage,  of  all  the  dis 
cordant  factions  which  have  brought  it  into  power. 
But  if  it  does,  rather  than  we  should,  like  cravens, 
desert  in  adversity  those  principles  which  we  professed 
to  esteem  and  support  under  more  favorable  circum 
stances,  we  would  rather  go  down  to  a  certain  defeat  in 
1856,  with  banners  flying,  than  to  abandon  our  national 
organization.  With  a  leader  of  whom  we  will  have  a 
right  to  be  proud,  let  us  strike  for  what  we  believe  to  be 
right,  and  deserve  success,  even  if  we  fail  to  attain  it. 
Thus  alone  can  we  prove  ourselves  to  be  worthy  to 
bear  the  name  honored  by  the  Whigs  of  the  Kevolu- 
tion,  who  preferred  to  stand  by  the  right,  amid  reverses 
and  gloom,  rather  than  by  laying  down  their  arms  to 
purchase  a  lifetime  of  inglorious  ease.  There  are 
Arnolds  now  as  then,  but  the  party  is  purged  of  them. 
Our  ranks  may  be  thinned  by  the  desertion  of  the 
timorous  and  the  recreant.  We  may  feel  politically  the 
snows  and  the  trials  of  Valley  Forge.  But,  faithful  to 
duty  and  principle,  the  darker  hours  will  pass  away, 


64  Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax. 

and  the  rays  of  a  Yorktown  sun  will  yet  shine  brightly 
upon  our  banners." 

The  great  Whig  party,  however,  was  destined  soon  to 
pass  away.  The  principles  and  policy  for  which  it  had 
contended  ceased  to  be  the  paramount  questions  of  the 
land.  Other  issues,  greater  and  more  vital,  came  before 
the  people,  which  not  only  caused  the  abandonment  of 
the  organization  of  the  Whig,  but  a  grand  upheaval  in 
the  Democratic  party. 

The  Thirty-third  Congress,  the  first  under  the  admin 
istration  of  Mr.  Pierce,  made  itself  famous  by  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  Early  in  the  session  a  bill 
was  introduced  into  the  Senate  for  the  organization  of 
the  Territory  of  Nebraska.  This  bill  was  referred  to  the 
committee  on  territories,  of  which  Senator  Douglas,  of 
Illinois,  was  chairman.  The  first  bill  that  was  reported 
to  the  Senate  by  the  committee,  through  their  chairman, 
left  undecided  all  the  disputed  questions  respecting  the 
entrance  of  slavery  into  the  territories.  Its  language 
was :  "  Your  committee  do  not  feel  themselves  called 
to  enter  upon  the  discussion  of  these  controverted  ques 
tions.  They  involve  the  same  grave  issues  which  pro 
duced  the  agitation,  the  sectional  strife,  and  the  fearful 
struggle  of  1850.  As  Congress  deemed  it  wise  and 
prudent  to  refrain  from  deciding  the  matters  in  contro 
versy  then,  either  by  affirming  or  repealing  the  Mexican 
laws,  or  by  an  act  declaratory  of  the  true  intent  of  the 
Constitution,  and  the  extent  of  the  protection  afforded 
by  it  to  slave  property  in  the  territories,  so  your  com 
mittee  are  not  prepared  to  recommend  a  departure  from 
the  course  pursued  on  that  memorable  occasion,  either 
by  affirming  or  repealing  the  eighth  section  of  the  Mis- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  65 

souri  act,  or  by  any  act  declaratory  of  the  meaning  of 
the  Constitution  in  respect  to  the  legal  points  in  dispute." 

At  the  request  of  Senator  Douglas  the  bill  was 
recommitted  in  consequence  of  opposition  made,  and 
especially  because  of  notice  given,  by  Mr.  Dixon,  of 
Kentucky,  that  when  the  bill  came  up  he  should  move, 
as  an  amendment  to  it,  that  so  much  of  the  eighth  sec 
tion  of  an  act,  approved  March  6, 1820,  entitled  "  An  act 
to  authorize  the  people  of  the  Missouri  territory  to  form 
a  constitution  and  State  government,  and  for  the  admis 
sion  of  such  State  into  the  Union  on  an  equal  footing 
with  the  original  States,  and  to  prohibit  slavery  in  cer 
tain  territories,'  as  declares,  '  That,  in  all  that  territory 
ceded  by  France  to  the  United  States,  under  the  name 
of  Louisiana,  which  lies  north  of  thirty  six  degrees 
thirty  minutes  north  latitude,  slavery  and  involun 
tary  servitude,  otherwise  than  in  the  punishment  of 
crimes  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  con 
victed,  shall  be  forever  prohibited,'  shall  not  be  so  con 
strued  as  to  apply  to  territory  contemplated  by  this  act,  or  to 
any  other  territory  of  the  United  States  ;  but  that  the  citi 
zens  of  the  several  States  or  territories  shall  be  at  liberty 
to  take  and  hold  their  slaves  within  any  of  the  terri 
tories  or  States  to  be  formed  therefrom,  as  if  the  said 
act,  entitled  as  aforesaid,  and  approved  as  aforesaid,  had 
never  been  passed." 

Mr.  Douglas  reported  his  new  bill  January  23d,  1854. 
It  differed  so  much  from  the  previous  bill  that  it  hardly 
resembled  it,  save  that  it  contemplated  the  same  region 
of  country.  Its  essential  feature  was  that  it  embodied 
the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise. 


66  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

NEBRASKA  BILL — ORIGIN  OF  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE — IN 
JUSTICE  OF  ITS  REPEAL — ACTION  OF  SENATOR  DOUGLAS 
— THOMAS  F.  MARSHALL,  OF  KENTUCKY — ENLISTING 
UNDER  THE  BANNER  OF  REPEAL. 

THE  introduction  of  the  Nebraska  bill  into  the  Senate 
by  Senator  Douglas  was  the  inauguration  of  a  grand 
political  era.  The  hearts  of  all  the  people  were  stirred. 
Mass  conventions  were  held  throughout  the  North ;  old 
political  differences  were  obliterated ;  old  parties  were 
disintegrating  and  new  parties  were  forming  for  the  new 
issues  that  were  coming  before  the  people.  Of  the  Ne 
braska  bill,  Mr.  Colfax  thus  wrote  in  the  Register  at  that 
time: 

THE  NEBEASKA  BILL. 

«  Thirty  years  had  passed  away  after  the  adoption  of 
the  Federal  Constitution  before  the  first  serious  struggle 
between  the  North  and  the  South  agitated  the  country. 
Louisiana  had  been  peacefully  acquired  from  France ; 
and  that  part  of  it  known  as  the  State  of  Louisiana  had 
been  peacefully  admitted  as  a  slave  State  without  ques 
tion  or  conflict.  At  the  earliest  period,  1808,  when  Con 
gress  could  constitutionally  prohibit  the  slave  trade,  it 
had  done  so ;  and  instead  of  its  former  acquiescence  in 
its  horrors,  had  placed  it  under  the  ban  of  the  law  as 
piracy.  Legislation  on  both  sides  of  the  slavery  ques 
tion  had  been  tranquilly  enacted.  But  when  Missouri, 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  67 

all  of  whose  territory  was  north  of  36°  30',  applied  for 
admission  as  a  slave  State,  the  whole  North  with  one 
voice  said  'No.'  During  two  sessions  her  claim  for 
admission  was  resisted  by  almost  a  geographical  vote  ;  the 
North,  being  a  majority,  voting  against  it,  and  the  South, 
the  minority,  for  it.  The  public  excitement  increased 
as  the  discussion  was  prolonged.  Every  Northern  State, 
through  its  Legislature,  protested  against  its  admission ; 
the  South  complained  with  bitterness  that  their  rights 
were  assailed,  and  the  Union  rocked  to  its  centre.  At 
last,  Henry  Clay,  anxious  for  peace,  proposed,  as  a  com 
promise,  that  Missouri  should  be  admitted  with  her  slave 
constitution,  but  that  in  the  remainder  of  the  territory 
acquired  from  France,  stretching  over  what  were  then 
considered  desert  plains,  to  the  crests  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  slavery  should  be  forever  prohibited.  It 
was  no  wonder  that  the  South  joyfully  acceded  to  this. 
A  few  Northern  members,  wearied  out  with  the  pro 
longed  contest,  joined  them  and  secured  its  passage  by 
a  close  vote.  John  C.  Calhoun,  of  South  Carolina,  Wil 
liam  Wirt,  of  Virginia,  and  William  H.  Crawford,  of 
Georgia,  gave  to  the  President  written  opinions  in  favor 
of  the  constitutionality  of  the  bill ;  and  James  Monroe, 
a  Virginia  President,  affixed  to  it  his  signature.  The 
South  were  victors  of  the  sharply-contested  battle-field. 
They  obtained  ail  the  then  present  advantage ;  while  the 
share  of  the  North  in  the  compromise  was  to  be  enjoyed 
perhaps  twenty,  perhaps  fifty,  perhaps  not  till  one  hun 
dred  years  afterward.  The  South  rejoiced — the  North 
mourned — but  the  contest  was  over. 

"  For  thirty-four  years  this  compromise  has  been  held 
sacred.  During  that  long  term,  longer  than  the  existence 
of  a  generation  of  men,  the  South  has  enjoyed,  without 


68  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

fear  of  molestation,  the  great  benefit  which  she  gained 
by  its  passage.  Missouri's  slaveholding  delegations  in 
both  Houses  have  assisted  in  shaping  the  legislation  of 
the  country — her  votes  aided  to  pass  the  Compromise 
Measures  of  1850 — on  one  or  two  of  them,  her  members 
turned  the  doubtful  scale  against  the  North,  and  her 
number  of  slaves  has  increased  from  ten  thousand  to 
eighty-seven  thousand.  Propositions  of  various  kinds 
have  been  made,  during  that  time,  to  amend  the  Consti 
tution,  but  no  statesman,  no  Senator,  no  Congressman, 
no  President,  from  the  North  or  the  South,  has  ever 
proposed  an  amendment  to  the  Missouri  Compromise,  in 
any  of  its  features ;  much  less  its  abrogation  or  repeal. 
It  was  considered  a  compact  which  the  plighted  faith  of 
the  'South  required  should  be  faithfully  fulfilled.  They 
had  secured  by  it  a  State,  having  an  equal  vote  in  the 
Senate  with  the  teeming  millions  of  New  York's  popu 
lation.  The  North,  as  its  share,  had  obtained  only  an 
unpeopled  territory,  with  no  Voice  or  vote  in  the  Na 
tional  Councils. 

"  At  last,  a  Senator  representing  a  free  State,  though 
said  to  be  the  owner  of  a  plantation  in  a  Southern  one 
— Senator  Douglas,  of  Illinois — proclaims  himself  the 
champion  in  the  United  States  Senate  of  a  bill  for  the 
organization  of  this  vast  territory,  extending  from  the 
borders  of  Missouri  and  Iowa  to  the  boundaries  of 
California,  Oregon,  and  Utah,  which  declares  that  this 
sacred,  time-honored  compact  is  null  and  void — that  it 
is  inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  the  Compromise 
of  1850,  and  is  therefore  abrogated— and,  we  regret  to 
say,  this  unjust  act  is  certain  to  pass  the  Senate,  and 
almost  certain  to  pass  the  House  by  a  large  majority. 
Trampling  under  foot  the  noble  invocation  of  the  states- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  69 

man-philosopher,  Benjamin  Franklin,  to  the  first  Ameri 
can  Congress — '  Step  to  the  very  verge  of  power  vested 
in  you  to  discourage  every  species  of  traffic  in  the  per 
sons  of  our  fellow-men' — an  American  Congress,  in  this 
noon  of  the  nineteenth  century,  prepares  the  way  for 
the  entrance  of  slavery,  with  all  its  blight  and  evil,  into 
a  vast  expanse  of  territory,  larger  in  its  area  than  all  the 
free  States  of  the  Eepublic,  before  the  admission  of  Cali 
fornia.  And  this,  too,  at  the  sacrifice  of  honor  and  of 
plighted  faith. 

"A  single  paragraph  will  suffice  to  show  the  fallacy 
of  the  weak  subterfuge,  under  the  cover  of  which  the 
slavery-prohibition  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  is  sought 
to  be  repealed.  The  Territorial  Compromises  (Utah, 
New  Mexico,  etc.)  passed  in  1850.  During  all  the  de 
bates  upon  them,  not  the  slightest  whisper  was  heard  of 
any  intention  thereby  to  repeal  the  Missouri  Compro 
mise.  No  speaker,  no  committee,  no  report,  no  press  took 
that  ground  then  or  since.  In  no  discussions  upon  the 
subject  afterwards  was  it  ever  adduced  by  friend  or  foe. 
Every  one  understood  that  the  Compromise  of  1850  re 
lated  to  the  territory  acquired  from  Mexico,  not  to  the 
territory  legislated  upon  in  1820,  which  had  been  ac 
quired  from  France.  Three  years  after  1850,  no  longer 
ago  than  last  March,  Senator  Douglas  himself  urged 
upon  Congress  the  passage  of  a  bill,  already  adopted  by 
the  House,  for  organizing  Nebraska,  which  was  silent  on 
the  slavery  question,  silent  on  the  repeal  or  supersedure 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  In  his  speech  he  never 
even  hinted  that  the  Freedom  clause  of  that  Compromise 
had  been  in  the  slightest  degree  affected  by  the  legisla 
tion  of  1850,  nor  did  any  other  Senator.  On  the  con 
trary,  Senator  Atchison,of  Missouri,  now  the  acting  Yice- 


jo  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

President  of  the  United  States  in  the  Senate,  in  his  speech, 
March  3d,  1853,  declared  that  he  had  thought  of  opposing 
the  bill,  but  that  he  saw  '  no  prospect,  no  hope  of  a  re 
peal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise/  that  '  that  great  error 
was  irremediable}  and  that  '  we  might  therefore  as  well 
agree  to  the  admission  of  this  territory  now  as  next 
year,  or  five  or  ten  years  hence  P  (Cong.  Globe,  Yol. 
26,  p.  1,112).  And  no  Senator,  not  even  Douglas,  rose 
to  inform  him  that  it  had  been  superseded  three  years 
before.  Not  even  the  Washington  Union,  with  its  eyes 
so  intent  on  the  interests  of  slavery,  ever  discovered 
this  alleged  repeal,  until  Senator  Douglas,  in  his  bid  for 
the  Presidency,  avowed  it  as  the  pretext  for  his  recre 
ancy  to  the  interests  of  freedom. 

"  Nay,  more.  At  the  opening  of  the  present  session, 
Senator  Dodge,  of  Iowa,  now  one  of  Douglas'  followers, 
introduced  a  Nebraska  bill,  copied  from  the  one  of  last 
session,  again  silent  on  slavery,  and  Douglas  himself,  in 
reporting  on  it  from  the  Committee  on  Territories,  on 
the  4th  of  January,  though  desiring  and  intending  to 
open  the  door  to  slavery,  dared  not  then  declare  the 
Compromise  repealed.  He  said,  on  the  contrary,  that 
as  the  framers  of  the  Compromise  of  1850  deemed  it 
*  wise  and  prudent '  not  to  attempt,  in  their  bills,  to  de 
cide  that  the  Mexican  an ti- slavery  laws  were  in  force  or 
abrogated,  so  he  deemed  it  equally  wise  and  prudent 
not  to  affirm  that  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  or  was 
not  in  force  in  Nebraska.  But  the  South  asked  more 
than  this ;  if  his  bid  was  to  be  considered  by  them  at 
all.  Accordingly,  on  the  10th  of  January,  another  sec 
tion  was  added  to  the  bill,  declaring  that  all  slavery 
questions  should  be  left  to  the  settlers  in  the  territory, 
which  would  certainly  be  a  virtual  repeal  of  the  decla- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  71 

ration  in  the  Missouri  Compromise,  that  'slavery  should 
be  forever  prohibited'  there.  Still  the  South  asked 
more.  There  were  fears  that  this  might  not  be  sufficient. 
And  on  the  23d  of  January,  Mr.  Douglas  offered  a  new 
bill,  which,  in  the  very  teeth  of  his  report,  made  but 
nineteen  days  previously,  declared  that  'the  Missouri 
Compromise  was  superseded  by  the  principles  of  the 
Compromise  of  1850,  and  is  therefore  declared  inopera 
tive,'  language  which  he  has  again  changed  since,  so  as 
to  read  that  it  is  'inconsistent '  therewith,  and  therefore 
null  and  void.  And  this  bill  is,  in  all  probability,  to 
become  the  law  of  the  land. 

"  We  pass  over,  for  want  of  space,  the  point  raised  by 
the  opponents  of  the  bill,  and  already  alluded  to  and 
explained  in  our  columns,  that  the  very  language  of  one 
of  the  Compromise  acts  of  1850,  affirms  the  spirit  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  relative  to  the  absolute  prohibi 
tion  of  slavery  north  of  36°  30',  and  will  make  a  brief 
comment  on  the  doctrine  of  popular  sovereignty,  which 
the  friends  of  the  bill  pretend  to  defend. 

"It  is  republican,  says  Senator  Douglas,  to  let  the 
people  of  the  territory  legislate  on  their  institutions  for 
themselves;  it  is  unconstitutional  to  restrict  them  by 
such  a  prohibition  as  was  contained  in  Mr.  Clay's  Com 
promise  of  1850.  The  answer  is  a  plain  one.  Congress, 
by  the  national  Constitution,  is  their  supreme  legislature, 
clothed  even  with  the  power  of  dissenting  from  the  acts 
of  a  territorial  legislature  on  the  merest  local  questions. 
And  the  Constitution  itself  vests  in  Congress,  in  the 
most  explicit  language,  the  authority  'to  make  all  need 
ful  rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  territories.7  If 
it  is  so  anti-republican  for  Congress  to  regulate  their 
institutions  until  they  become  matured  into  States,  why 


72  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

does  not  Senator  Douglas  give  them  the  power  to  elect 
their  own  governor  by  their  own  votes  ?  Why  does  he 
provide  that  their  judges,  who  have  power  over  their 
property  and  lives,  shall  be  appointed  by  the  President 
and  Senate,  instead  of  being  selected  by  themselves  ? 
Why  have  they  not  a  right,  through  representatives,  to 
votes  on  the  floor  of  both  branches  of  Congress,  espe 
cially  on  questions  affecting  their  own  local  interests  ? 
Why  cannot  they  pass  their  own  laws,  unfettered  by  the 
reserved  privilege  of  Congress  to  reject  or  annul  them? 
Simply,  because  Congress  is  their  higher  legislature, 
possessing  the  same  power  over  them  that  State  legisla 
tures  have  within  their  appropriate  limits.  If  the  latter 
can  abolish  slavery  in  their  respective  States,  if  they 
deem  it  expedient  or  needful,  so  equally  may  Congress 
prohibit  slavery  in  the  territories  of  the  United  States, 
whenever  they  may  deem  that  prohibition  a  just  and 
'  needful  rule  and  regulation.'  The  point  seems  too 
plain  a  one  to  be  contested. 

'*  Slavery  does  not  now  exist  on  a  single  foot  of  Ne 
braska  soil.  There  may  be  a  few  slaves  there,  as  there 
may  be  also  a  few  whisky-sellers  to  the  Indians,  in  spite 
of  the  absolute  prohibition  against  both.  And  when  the 
question  comes  up,  whether  this  great  evil  is  to  be  al 
lowed  to  darken  that  great  basin  of  our  country,  between 
our  present  frontier  and  the  Rocky  Mountains,  soon  to 
be  densely  peopled,  with  all  the  accessories  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  civilization,  with  growing  cities  springing  up  in 
its  valleys,  with  busy  manufactories  on  the  margin  of 
its  streams,  with  the  spires  of  churches  and  the  sight 
of  numerous  school-houses  gladdening  the  eye,  with 
long  trains  of  railroad  cars  bearing  the  commerce  of  the 
world,  rushing  eastward  and  westward  on  their  iron 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax.  73 

tracks,  we  should  have,  all  of  us,  but  one  answer  to  give. 
Kegard  for  honor  and  good  faith  should  impel  the 
South,  and  regard  for  freedom  and  liberty  should  com 
pel  the  North,  to  remember  and  to  heed  the  language 
of  that  eloquent  Kentuckian,  Thomas  F.  Marshall,  when, 
in  1840,  he  warred  with  the  Wickliffes  on  the  question 
of  the  prohibition  of  further  slave  importation  into  Ken 
tucky  : 

"  *  I  have  said  that  I  consider  negro  slavery  as  a  polit 
ical  misfortune.  The  phrase  was  too  mild.  It  is  a 
cancer — a  withering  pestilence,  an  unmitigated  curse. 
I  speak  not  in  the  spirit  of  a  puling  and  false  philan 
thropy.  I  was  born  in  a  slave  State.  I  was  nursed 
by  a  slave.  My  life  has  been  saved  by  a  slave.  To  me 
custom  has  made  the  relation  familiar,  and  I  see  nothing 
horrible  in  it.  I  am  a  Virginian  by  descent.  Every  cross 
in  my  blood,  so  far  as  I  can  trace  it,  in  the  paternal  and 
maternal  line,  is  Virginian.  It  is  the  only  State  of  the 
Union  in  which  I  ever  resided,  save  Kentucky.  I  was 
never  north  of  Chesapeake  bay.  My  friends,  my  family, 
my  sympathies,  my  habits,  my  education,  are  Virginian. 
Yet  I  consider  negro  slavery  as  a  political  cancer  and  a 
curse.  And  she  taught  me  so  to  consider  it.  Hear  her 
own  early  declaration — ponder  on  her  history — look  at 
her  present  condition.' 

"  Whatever  others  may  do,  when  Congress,  seduced 
by  Executive  patronage  and  trammelled  by  political 
dictation,  forgetful  of  plighted  faith,  passes  this  bill,  we 
enlist  under  the  banner  of  Eepeal.  Whether  successful 
or  defeated,  we  will  go  with  the  opponents  of  this  bill 
before  the  people,  on  an  appeal  to  them  from  the  recreancy 
of  their  representatives.  Oh!  that  Henry  Clay,  the 
author  of  this  Compromise,  now  scouted  from  the  coun 
cils  of  our  country,  were  living  this  day  to  lead  on  this 


74  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

conflict.  But,  if  the  grave  had  not  closed  upon  him, 
the  men  who  twice  appealed  to  him  to  settle  agitation  by 
compromise,  even  at  the  hazard  of  his  own  prospects 
and  popularity,  would  not  have  dared  to  lay  their  finger 
on  this,  which,  if  undisturbed,  would  have  proved,  in 
its  final  result,  the  noblest  act  of  his  eventful  career. 
But  in  what  a  position  does  this  place  us?  When 
foreigners  reproach  us  with  the  dark  shadow  that 
American  slavery  casts  on  our  National  escutcheon,  its 
inconsistency  with  our  eulogies  on  freedom,  etc.,  our 
ready  excuse  is,  '  The  institution  existed  here  before  our 
birth  as  a  nation ;  it  is  under  the  control  of  States,  who 
think  they  cannot  abolish  it  without  risk  of  great  evil.' 
But  here  is  a  vast  territory  yet  unpeopled.  It  lies  before 
Congress,  like  the  mind  of  an  infant  child  before  its 
parents,  ready  to  receive  good  or  evil  impressions.  Thus 
far  it  has  been  protected  by  a  solemn  compact  of  our 
fathers  against  the  footsteps  of  the  slave ;  and  they 
declared,  the  North  and  the  South  in  council  together, 
that  this  protection  should  exist  'forever?  That  never, 
while  time  had  an  existence,  and  Congress  had  an  au 
thority  over  it,  should  the  clank  of  the  slave's  fetters 
or  the  tfrack  of  the  overseer's  lash  be  heard  within  its 
limits.  But  though  our  National  laws  condemn  the 
importation  of  slaves  into  our  borders  as  piracy,  and 
hang  the  men  engaged  in  it  as  worse  than  murderers, 
statesmen  from  the  North  and  South  join  now  with  each 
other  to  break  down  the  wall  of  prohibition,  which 
Henry  Clay  proposed,  which  the  South  built,  which 
Monroe  and  Calhoun,  Wirt  and  Crawford,  approved,  to 
make  plighted  faith  but  a  byword,  and  fidelity  to  free 
dom  a  reproach.  For  one,  we  wash  our  hands  of  it,  now 
and  forever." 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  75 


CHAPTER,  VII. 

FINAL  PASSAGE  OF  NEBRASKA  BILL— EARNEST  PROTEST 
— EEFUSAL  OF  NOMINATION  TO  CONGRESS  IN  1852— 
ACCEPTANCE  UPON  THE  NEBRASKA  ISSUE  IN  1854 — 
THE  MAJORITY  OF  1776 — THIRTY-FOURTH  CONGRESS 
— UNRIVALLED  CONTEST  FOR  SPEAKER — WORTH  OF 
PARLIAMENTARY  SKILL — N.  P.  BANKS,  SPEAKER. 

UPON  the  final  passage  of  the  Nebraska  bill,  three 
months  afterwards,  Mr.  Colfax  thus  wrote : 

"The  conspirators  against  freedom  are  triumphant. 
At  the  fitting  hour  of  midnight,  on  Monday  last,  in  the 
House  of  Eepresentatives,  the  Nebraska  bill  passed  by 
a  majority  of  thirteen,  and  the  heart  of  our  continent  is 
thrown  open  for  the  free  and  unrestricted  admission  of 
slavery.  The  compact  made  by  the  second  generation 
of  American  freemen  in  1820,  whereby  that  vast  region 
between  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  the  Eocky  Mountains, 
dedicated  to  liberty  forever,  has  been  ruthlessly  abro 
gated  by  the  representatives  of  their  successors,  and  the 
South  to-day  repudiates  what  it  forced  upon  the  North 
and  bound  it  to  but  yesterday. 

"  For  one — whatever  others  may  do — we  shall  neither 
recommend  nor  practise  submission  to  this  outrage. 
The  North  was  forced  into  the  Missouri  Compromise  in 
1820,  and  quietly  acquiesced.  The  South  took  Missouri 
and  Arkansas  as  slave  States,  as  their  share  of  the  bar 
gain,  and  the  North  waited  patiently  thirty-four  years 
for  the  maturing  of  its  portion.  In  1850  the  South 
forced  the  North  again  into  another  compromise,  some 
of  the  features  of  which  were  made  specially  and,  we 


7 6  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

believe,  purposely  distasteful  and  repulsive  to  her  citi 
zens  ;  and  again  she  acquiesced.  After  having  tested 
her  submissive  powers  by  forcing  her  into  compromises, 
the  new  policy  is  resolved  upon  of  forcing  her  out  of 
those  which  do  not  seem  calculated  to  enure  to  the 
benefit  of  slavery.  The  Arabs  say,  '  It  is  the  last  ounce 
that  breaks  the  camel's  back ;'  and  we  believe  that  this 
last  attempt  is  destined  to  prove  that  the  North  is  not 
to  be  ridden  over  rough-shod  hereafter — that,  in  a 
word,  there  is  now  a  North!  But  whatever  others  may 
resolve  upon,  we,  for  one,  go  back  now  to  the  policy  of 
our  ^Revolutionary  forefathers — of  Jefferson,  who  strove 
to  dedicate  every  foot  of  the  territories  of  the  nation 
to  eternal  and  irrepealable  freedom — to  the  statesman- 
philosopher  Franklin,  who  earnestly  petitioned  the  first 
Congress  '  that  you  will  step  to  the  very  verge  of  the 
power  vested  in  you  for  discouraging  every  species  of 
traffic  in  the  persons  of  our  fellow-men.'  We  go  back 
to  the  platform  of  the  united  North  in  1819,  (would 
that  it  had  never  been  depa'rted  from,)  when  the  Legisla 
tures  of  every  Northern  State  declared  that  no  new 
State  should  be  admitted  in  any  quarter  of  the  republic 
on  any  pretext  whatever  which  tolerates  or  sanctions 
the  institution  of  slavery." 

This  was  a  bold  declaration  for  lourteen  years  ago. 

In  1852  Mr.  Col  fax  had  been  tendered  the  nomina 
tion  to  Congress  by  the  "Whigs  of  his  district,  but  he 
positively  refused  to  accept  it.  The  district  at  that 
election  gave  twelve  hundred  Democratic  majority;  a 
Democratic  increase  since  his  canvass  of  one  thousand. 
Dr.  Norman  Eddy,  of  South  Bend,  and  fellow-townsman 
of  Mr.  Coifcix,  had  been  the  successful  candidate.  As 
a  Free  Soil  Democrat,  he  had  carried  the  district  by 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  77 

this  large  majority.  Dr.  Eddy  returned  home  on  a  visit 
while  the  Nebraska  bill  was  still  pending  in  Congress. 
While  at  home  he  was  strongly  urged  by  friends  and 
neighbors  to  oppose  the  Nebraska  bill.  Among  those 
who  thus  solicited  him  was  Mr.  Colfax.  To  have  fol 
lowed  such  a  course  would  undoubtedly  have  secured 
Dr.  Eddy's  return  to  Congress  by  an  overwhelming 
majority,  and  among  the  most  earnest  and  efficient 
laborers  for  his  re-election  would  have  been  Mr.  Colfax. 
But  Dr.  Eddy  voted  for  the  Nebraska  bill.  In  August, 

1854,  a  People's  Convention  of  all  opposed  to  the  prin 
ciples  of  the  Nebraska  bill  was  called,  to  nominate  a 
candidate  for  Congress.     It  was  the  largest  convention 
that  had  ever  been  held  in  the  district.     Mr.  Colfax  was 
unanimously  nominated  as  its  candidate  for  Congress, 
and  Dr.  Eddy  was  nominated  by  the  Democracy  for  re 
election.     The  last  of  August  they  began  their  joint 
canvass  and  went  over  the  district  together,  discussing 
the  great  question  of  the  day  before  all  the  people.    The 
result  was  that  Mr.  Colfax  was  elected  by  the  memorable 
majority  of  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-six,  although 
Dr.  Eddy  had  carried  the  district  in  his  previous  canvass 
by  about  twelve  hundred  majority. 

According  to  the  Constitutional  provision,  the  Thirty- 
fourth  Congress  met  on  the  first  Monday  of  December, 

1855.  A  majority  of  the  members  elected  were  opposed 
to  the  administration  and  its  measures.     The  opposition, 
however,    was   divided.     It   consisted   of  Eepublicans, 
Anti-Nebraska  Democrats  and  Native  Americans.     As 
the  result  proved,  it  was  easier  for  the  Native  Ameri 
cans  and  Democrats  to  form,  a  coalition  on  pro-slavery 
grounds  than  it  was  for  the  Native  Americans  to  unite 
with  the  Anti-Nebraska  men  in  opposition  to  the  admin- 


7  8  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

istration.  The  Anti-Nebraska  men  felt  that  it  was  all- 
important  for  them  to  secure  the  election  of  the  Speaker. 
Unless  they  elected  the  presiding  officer  of  the  House, 
who  through  the  appointment  of  the  committees  wielded 
so  great  a  power  over  the  legislation  of  the  country, 
they  knew  by  experience  that  the  committees  would  be 
so  constituted  that  no  reports  favorable  to  the  rights  of 
the  North  would  be  made,  and  could  not  consequently 
be  brought  before  the  House  for  its  consideration.  The 
Anti-Nebraska  men  therefore  determined  not  to  yield 
the  Speakership,  as  it  was  the  citadel  of  their  hopes,  but 
to  prolong  the  contest  for  it  until  they  were  successful. 
The  contest  was  unparalleled.  It  continued  for  two 
months.  In  it,  none  perhaps  contributed  more  to  its 
successful  issue  than  Mr.  Colfax,  by  his  quickness  of 
perception  and  readiness  in  parliamentary  knowledge. 
After  the  contest  had  been  prolonged  for  several  weeks, 
Mr.  Campbell,  of  Ohio,  who  had  been  for  a  time  in 
nomination  for  the  Speaker's  chair,  without  consulting 
with  his  friends,  offered  a  resolution  that  Mr.  Orr,  of 
South  Carolina,  should  be  invited  to  preside  temporarily 
until  a  Speaker  should  be  elected.  The  Republican 
members  with  but  few  exceptions  looked  upon  the  reso 
lution  with  great  alarm.  They  argued  that  if  Mr.  Orr 
was  once  in  the  chair  of  the  Speaker,  it  was  more  than 
probable  that  he  would  remain  there  permanently.  A 
motion  to  lay  Mr.  Campbell's  resolution  on  the  table 
was  lost.  There  was  a  majority  of  twenty  against  tabling 
the  resolution,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  South  Carolinian 
would  in  a  few  minutes  take  possession  of  the  Speaker's 
chair.  At  this  juncture,  Mr.  Colfax,  with  consummate 
parliamentary  skill  and  wisdom,  proposed  an  amend 
ment  to  Mr.  Campbell's  resolution.  It  was  to  put  the 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co  If  ax.  79 

three  parties  that  were  endeavoring  to  elect  a  Speaker 
upon  an  equality,  by  allowing  each  to  select  a  tempo 
rary  Chairman,  the  persons  thus  selected  to  preside 
alternately  as  they  should  mutually  agree.  This  amend 
ment  of  Mr.  Colfax  irresistibly  suggests,  says  Mrs.  Stowe, 
the  device  of  Hushai  by  which  the  counsel  of  Ahitho- 
phel  was  defeated.  Upon  this  amendment  discussion 
sprung  up,  and  the  House  took  a  recess  without  any 
vote  on  either  the  resolution  or  amendment.  The  next 
morning  Mr.  Campbell,  yielding  to  the  appeals  of  his 
friends,  withdrew  his  resolution.  There  was  freer  breath 
ing  on  the  Republican  side  of  the  House,  when  this 
peril  was  past.  More  than  a  month  longer  the  contest 
continued.  It  was  the  first  week  in  February  when  the 
end  of  the  strife  came.  N.  P.  Banks,  of  Massachusetts, 
upon  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-fourth  ballot,  was 
elected  and  declare^  Speaker  of  the  Thirty-fourth  Con 
gress,  and  the  Republican  banner  waved  in  triumph  over 
the  Speaker's  chair 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

EDITOEIAL  CORRESPONDENCE — CLOSING  SCENES  OF  THE 
LONG  CONTEST — HAPPY  RESULT — LETTER  FROM  MR. 
COLFAX  IN  REPLY  TO  AN  INVITATION  TO  ADDRESS  THE 
REPUBLICANS  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY — A  GOLDEN  TRUTH. 

THE  editorial  correspondence  of  Mr.  Colfax  is  of  per 
manent  historical  value  for  the  vivid  and  accurate 
sketches  from  life,  of  men  and  scenes  connected  with  this 
great  contest.  The  last  letter  of  this  series  is  here  given : 


80  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"WASHINGTON,  February  6,  1856. 

"  The  electric  wires  have  ]ong  since  flashed  the  news 
over  our  whole  Union  that  the  protracted  struggle  for 
Speaker  has  resulted  in  a  glorious  victory  for  freedom, 
and  that  Nathaniel  P.  Banks,  of  Massachusetts,  presides 
over  the  House  of  Kepresentatives.  But  though  this 
letter  will  be  old  news,  so  far  as  that  event  is  concerned, 
it  may  be  expected  of  me  that  I  should  give  some  of  the 
closing  scenes  of  this  unprecedented  contest. 

"  During  the  latter  part  of  last  week,  it  was  evident 
that  the  wall  of  partition  between  the  Democrats  and 
the  South  Americans  was  to  be  broken  down,  that  a 
fusion  of  Administration  and  Southern  Know  Nothing 
members  was  to  take  place  on  some  candidate  accept 
able  to  both  parties,  and  that  this  combined  array  was 
to  elect  a  Speaker,  if  possible.  On  Thursday,  therefore, 
when  a  proposition  was  read  by  Mr.  Trippe,  of  Georgia, 
(Know  Nothing,)  to  elect  Mr.  Smith,  of  Virginia,  it  was 
rejected  by  but  ten  majority — ayes,  one  hundred ;  noes, 
one  hundred  and  ten  ;  and  on  Friday,  when  Mr.  Jones,  of 
Tennessee,  the  chairman  of  the  Democratic  caucus,  ignored 
both  the  party  nomination  and  the  platform  by  offering 
Mordecai  Oliver,  of  Missouri,  an  old-line  Whig,  who  had 
voted  for  Eichardson  and  Orr  on  pro-slavery  grounds, 
but  had  never  participated  in  their  caucuses,  the  nom 
ination  polled  one  hundred  and  one  votes.  A'  subse 
quent  resolution  to  elect  Mr.  Banks  polled  one  hundred 
and  three  votes,  when  W.  E.  W.  Cobb,  of  Alabama, 
proposed  for  Speaker  Governor  Aiken,  of  South  Caro 
lina,  the  largest  slaveholder  in  the  House,  said  to  own 
one  thousand  three  hundred  negroes,  and  to  be  worth  a 
million  of  dollars.  He  had  never  participated  in  any 
Democratic  caucus,  did  not  stand  on  their  platform,  and 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  8  £ 

was  understood  not  to  be  hostile  to  Southern  Know 
Nothings.  Mr.  Orr,  the  Democratic  nominee,  rose  and 
gave  in  his  adhesion  to  the  proposition,  earnestly  urging 
Governor  Aiken's  election.  The  vote  being  taken,  the 
two  parties  opposed  to  the  Republicans,  combined  nearly 
their  entire  vote  upon  him,  and  he  polled  one  hundred 
and  three  votes,  lacking  but  four  of  an  election.  The 
House  immediately  adjourned,  and  all  felt  that  the 
struggle  was  to  end  the  next  day. 

"  That  night  Washington  city  was  full  of  excitement. 
Some  of  Mr.  Banks'  friends  felt  dispirited,  and  feared 
defeat,  as  Governor  Aiken's  vote  had  risen  one  vote 
higher  than  theirs ;  but  the  great  bulk  stood  firm,  and 
by  ten  o'clock  it  was  unanimously  decided  that  the 
colors  should  be  nailed  to  the  mast. 

"  Saturday  morning  the  galleries  and  all  the  passages 
to  the  Representative  hall  were  crowded  long  before  the 
hour  of  meeting.  As  soon  as  the  journal  was  read,  the 
plurality  rule  was  adopted,  and  the  three  ballots,  which 
were  to  precede  the  final  and  decisive  vote,  were  taken. 
Then  the  Clerk  commenced  slowly  calling  the  roll  of 
names  for  the  one  hundred  and  thirty -fourth  vote  for 
Speaker,  on  which  the  candidate  receiving  the  highest 
number  of  votes  was  to  be  declared  elected.  The  op 
position  were  sanguine  of  electing  Governor  Aiken  ;  but 
the  Republicans  knew  that  Mr  Banks  would  be  chosen. 
The  response  of  every  anti-Banks  member  was  listened 
to  with  manifest  interest,  as  well  as  anxiety,  on  all  sides  ; 
and  many,  as  they  voted,  took  occasion  to  explain  the 
reasons  for  their  support  of  Aiken. 

"At  last  the  roll-call  was  completed.  When  all  the 
names  had  been  called  through,  Banks  had  one  hundred 
and  three  votes,  and  Aiken  ninety-three;  but  the  rules 


8  <2  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

allow  members  to  change  their  votes  or  record  their 
names  at  any  time  before  the  result  is  announced ;  and 
amid  considerable  excitement,  member  after  member, 
\v1io  had  voted  for  Fuller,  rose,  and  changed  to  Aiken. 
His  vote  ran  up  to  ninety-four,  ninety-five,  ninety-six, 
ninety-seven,  ninety-eight,  ninety-nine,  one  hundred,  and 
there  it  stopped,  exactly  where  we  supposed  it  would, 
while  there  were  three  more  votes  that  Mr.  Banks  could 
have  obtained,  if  necessary,  to  defeat  the  South  Carolina 
candidate. 

"Before  the  result  could  be  announced,  Mr.  Cox,  an 
Aiken  man,  moved  to  adjourn,  which  was  not  in  order ; 
but  Mr.  Benson,  of  Maine,  one  of  the  tellers,  instantly 
rose,  and,  with  a  ]oud  voice,  declared  the  number  of 
votes  cast  for  each  candidate,  and  announced  that,  in 
conformity  with  the  resolution  adopted  by  the  House, 
authorizing  a  plurality  to  elect  on  this  ballot,  N.  P. 
Banks,  Jr.,  a  Kepresentative  from  Massachusetts,  was 
elected  Speaker  of  the  Thirty-fourth  Congress.  The 
scene  that  followed  this  defies  description.  Not  a  Repre 
sentative  remained  in  his  seat.  The  ladies,  who  had 
been  sitting  in  the  gallery  for  seven  long  hours,  exult- 
ingly  waved  their  handkerchiefs,  and  from  hall  and 
gallery  rang  forth  most  enthusiastic  applause,  mingled 
with  hisses  from  those  who  did  not  approve  of  the 
result.  When  order  was  restored,  Mr.  Rust  and  Mr.  A. 
K.  Marshall  insisted  that  Mr.  Banks  was  not  yet  elected ; 
that  a  majority  vote  was  necessary  to  confirm  it.  But 
Governor  Aiken  promptly  rose,  and  asked  permission  to 
conduct  the  Speaker  elect  to  the  chair,  and  Messrs.  Cobb, 
Clingman  and  Jones,  and  other  Democrats,  insisted  that 
the  election  was  legal,  and  it  was  confirmed  by  a  vote  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty-five  to  forty.  Mr.  Banks  was  then 


Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax.  83 

conducted  to  the  chair ;  delivered  a  brief  and  happily- 
conceived  inaugural ;  was  sworn  in  by  Mr.  Giddings, 
the  oldest  member;  and  the  House  adjourned. 

"  The  scattering  votes  were  six  for  Mr.  Fuller,  four 
for  Mr.  Campbell,  cast  by  Messrs.  Dunn,  Scott,  Moore, 
and  Harrison,  and  one  cast  by  Mr.  Wells,  of  Wisconsin, 
for  Mr.  Hickman  of  Pennsylvania.  Two  members  who 
were  present  did  not  vote.  The  vote  for  Mr.  Aiken 
showed  the  following  singular  compound :  Orr  and 
Humphrey  Marshall,  who  made  an  elaborate  anti- 
Catholic  speech  last  winter,  and  John  Kelly,  a  member 
of  the  Catholic  church,  Howell  Cobb  and  Percy  Walker, 
Glancy  Jones  and  Trippe,  A.  H.  Stephens  and  Zollicof- 
fer;  and  so  on  through.  But  the  coalition,  though  a 
strong  one,  did  not  win. 

"  I  have  but  little  room  for  any  extended  comment 
on  this  result,  so  auspicious  to  the  cause  of  freedom. 
Six  years  ago,  when  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  first  came 
into  this  House,  there  was  a  decided  majority  opposed 
to  it ;  but  one  after  another,  during  the  two  months  it 
was  pending,  'conquered  their  prejudices,'  and  it  finally 
passed.  So  also  two  years  ago,  when  the  Nebraska  bill 
was  first  reported  to  the  House,  a  majority  were  opposed 
to  it;  but  in  a  month  or  so  it  was  carried.  Now,  I  re 
joice  to  say,  the  aspect  of  affairs  is  far  different.  For 
two  months  the  Eepublicans  have  stood  fast  by  their 
cause  and  their  candidate,  and  have  come  out  of  this 
protracted  contest  as  strong  and  united  as  they  went  in, 
and  what  is  better  still,  victorious  besides.  We  have 
heard  for  weeks  that  the  Union  would  be  dissolved  if 
Banks  was  elected ;  but  he  is  sitting  in  the  Speaker's 
chair  as  I  write,  presiding  over  the  House,  as  if  it  had 
been  the  business  of  his  life,  and  the  Union  yet  survives. 


84  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

Southern  men  acknowledge  frankly  that  when  a  Speaker 
is  elected  without  a  solitary  Southern  vote,  and  over  the 
opposition  of  three  parties  in  the  North,  it  is  indeed  a 
victory  won  by  inflexible  persistence  and  unyielding 
backbone." 


While  at  Washington,  during  his  first  term  of  service 
as  Congressman,  Mr.  Colfax  received  invitations  to 
attend  several  important  political  meetings  in  the 
neighboring  cities  of  the  East.  Duty  constrained  him 
to  remain  at  his  post  in  Washington.  To  one  of  these 
invitations  to  address  his  fellow-citizens  of  New  York 
city  upon  the  political  issues  of  the  day,  he  wrote 
the  following  reply : 

"HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 

"  WASHINGTON,  April  22,  1856. 

"GENTLEMEN: — It  would  afford  me  more  than  ordi 
nary  pleasure  if  I  were  able  to  respond  to  the  compli 
mentary  invitation  you  have  tendered  me,  to  address 
the  friends  of  freedom  of  my  native  city;  but  public 
duties  prevent,  and  I  can  be  with  you  therefore  only  in 
spirit — not  in  person. 

"  But  a  few  days  less  than  sixty -seven  years  ago,  the 
Father  of  our  Country,  in  your  very  city,  and  in  the 
presence  of  your  citizens,  took  that  solemn  oath  of 
office  which  made  him  first  President  of  the  United 
States.  And  as  he  looked  abroad  over  the  republic, 
which  he  was  thenceforth  to  aid  in  governing  and  pro 
tecting,  as  he  had  before  in  establishing,  his  clear  eye 
could  not  have  failed  to  see  that  in  every  acre  of  the 
national  territory  outside  the  limits  of  the  States,  slavery 
was  expressly  prohibited  and  excluded.  No  regret  for 


Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax.  85 

these  enactments  ever  fell  from  his  lips,  for  he  had  him 
self,  six  years  before,  declared  himself  averse  to  the 
institution,  and  in  favor  of  its  abolition ;  and  ten  years 
later,  on  that  death-bed,  which  tests  the  sincerity  of 
mortal  professions,  he  most  solemnly  enjoined  upon  his' 
executors  that  his  instructions  for  the  ultimate  emanci 
pation  of  his  slaves  should  be,  to  use  his  own  impres 
sively  anxious  words,  'religiously  fulfilled,  without 
evasion,  neglect  or  delay.'  He,  whose  right  arm  had 
so  essentially  aided  in  achieving  the  liberties  we  now 
enjoy,  and  in  consummating  our  independence  by 
the  Union  which  followed,  never  appeared  to  realize 
that,  in  order  to  secure  the  equality  of  the  States,  'those 
continental  prohibitions  against  slavery  extension  should 
be  declared  inoperative  and  void,'  and  the  absolute 
right  of  the  slaveholder  to  emigrate  into  our  territories 
with  his  human  property,  enforced  and  upheld  by  Presi 
dents,  legislators  and  judges;  and  I  confess  that,  even  in 
these  latter  days  of  discoveries  like  these,  I  prefer  to 
follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the  revolutionary  fathers,  and 
to  profit  by  their  example,  rather  than  to  be  dazzled  by 
the  new  lights  of  the  present  age. 

"It  is  eminently  fitting,  therefore,  that  the  National 
Committee,  in  summoning  the  opponents  of  slavery  ex 
tension  together  at  Philadelphia,  should  remind  the 
country,  as  they  have  in  their  call,  that  their  purpose 
is  to  restore  the  government  to  the  policy  of  Washing 
ton  and  Jefferson,  its  most  illustrious  founders;  that 
instead  of  being  '  abolitionists,'  we  do  not  even  go  as 
far  as  they  did,  when  the  one  in  1783  and  1786,  and  the 
other  in  1774,  declared  themselves  in  favor  of  the  aboli 
tion  of  slavery  in  States  where  it  then  existed ;  and  that 
we  only  strive  to  bring  back  our  national  territories  to 


86  Life  ofSchuyler  Coif  ax. 

the  same  free  condition  that  existed  in  similar  organiza 
tions  on  the  30th  of  April,  1789.  This  is  a  work  in 
which  all  patriots  can  harmoniously  unite.  It  is  one 
which  the  imminence  of  the  present  crisis  (when  the 
slave-power  demands  an  absolute  reversal  of  the  revo 
lutionary  precedent,  and  that  all  territory  shall  be  slave, 
not  free)  forces  upon  the  country  as  paramount  to  all 
other  issues.  And  if  any  one  fails  to  recognize  that  it 
is  the  overshadowing  question  of  the  day,  which  must 
be  settled  before  and  above  all  other  questions,  in  one 
way  or  another,  in  favor  of  liberty  or  of  slavery,  by  the 
policy  of  Washington  or  of  Douglas — the  fact  that  in 
its  presence  the  baods  of  old  party  organizations  snap 
like  brittle  threads,  and  are  consumed  like  flax,  ought 
to  be  sufficient  to  convince  him  that  the  great  mass  of 
the  people  recognize  it  as  the  issue  of  the  times,  and  are 
already  preparing  for  its  final  settlement  at  that  court 
of  last  resort  with  American  freemen — the  ballot-box. 

"  You  have  not  failed  to  notice  that  the  opening  of 
the  present  Congress  was  signalized  by  the  preliminary 
struggle  of  this  conflict.  I  will  not  weary  you  by 
alluding  to  the  fact  that  your  representatives  here  ex 
hibited  their  realizing  sense  of  the  magnitude  of  the 
contest  by  standing  firm  through  a  prolonged  parlia 
mentary  struggle,  unexampled  in  history,  and  which 
could  be  vindicated  only  by  an  overpowering  conviction 
of  duty  and  of  right.  I  need  only  say,  that,  at  last, 
after  a  faithful  persistence  of  months,  with  ranks  as  full 
to  the  end  as  when  they  entered  on  the  contest,  a  victory 
for  freedom  and  justice  crowned  their  labors.  It  remains 
for  you  and  the  people  at  large  to  say  whether  this 
auspicious  success  shall  be  followed  up  and  consum 
mated  in  the  national  canvass,  which  is  just  opening,  by 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  87 

a  triumph  of  free  labor  as  well  as  free  principles,  peace 
ful  in  its  character,  patriotic  in  its  objects,  republican 
in  its  results.  With  a  man  of  firmness,  as  well  as  of 
patriotism  in  the  presidential  chair,  the  government  will 
be  restored  to  the  policy  of  its  fathers ;  and  the  slanders 
of  our  opponents  will  be  disproved  by  his  vindicating 
the  eternal  truth  of  our  American  Magna  Charta  on  the 
one  hand,  while  opposing  all  unconstitutional  inter 
ference  with  the  rights  of  the  slave  States  on  the  other. 
With  the  country  thus  happily  and  justly  governed,  it 
cannot  fail  to  go  on  in  a  career  of  prosperity,  develop 
ment  and  wealth,  which  freedom  will  be  certain  to  bring 
in  its  train,  until  the  efforts  now  making  to  blot  out  the 
example  of  our  forefathers,  and  to  extend  the  dominion 
of  human  bondage,  shall  be  looked  upon  from  the  clearer 
stand-point  of  the  Hereafter  with  wonder  and  regret 
by  all. 

"  In  this  noble  work,  with  such  happy  results  as  must 
inevitably  flow  from  your  labors,  you  need  no  words  of 
encouragement  from  me.  With  union  and  concord,  you 
cannot  fail.  The  principles  upon  which  we  stand  can 
not  but  command  success  when  the  public  mind  is  con 
centrated  on  this  great  issue.  Politicians  in  the  Senate 
may  clamor  in  regard  to  'the  equality  of  the  States,' 
which  no  man  denies.  But  the  people  will  regard  it  as 
a  higher  and  nobler  principle  that  we  vindicate  in  our 
policy,  the  equality  of  the  American  freeman ;  and  that 
we  demand,  as  one  of  the  '  needful  rules  and  regulations 
for  the  territory  of  the  United  States,'  which  Congress 
is  expressly  authorized  by  .the  Constitution  to  enact, 
that  the  territories  shall  be  so  organized,  as  in  1789, 
that  all  of  our  citizens,  from  whatever  clirne  they  may 
come,  or  whatever  may  be  their  pecuniary  condition, 


88  Life  ofSchuyler  Coif  ax. 

shall  have  equal  rights  in  their  settlement ;  and  that  no 
institution  shall  prevail  in  them  which  shall  degrade 
American  labor  and  press  down  the  mechanic,  the  day- 
laborer,  the  road-builder,  or  the  worker  in  the  fields, 
towards  the  social  condition  of  the  Southern  slave.  In" 
,a  word,  that  it  shall  be  the  first  duty  of  the  Government 
to  see  to  it,  that,  wherever  it  has  constitutional  authority, 
LABOR,  the  primal  element  of  American  prosperity,  shall 
be  honored,  elevated  and  protected.  Then  the  true 
policy  of  the  founders  of  the  republic  will  be  vindicated 
by  their  suecessors.  And  then,  as  the  vanguard  of 
Anglo-Saxon  civilization  pushes  forward  and  takes  pos 
session  of  the  wide-spread  territories  of  the  West,  ever 
beneath  the  folds  of  the  national  banner,  as  it  greets  the 
morning  breeze  and  reflects  the  setting  sun,  the  great 
central  truth  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  shall 
be  recognized  and  avowed — that  all  men  are  endowed 
by  their  Creator  with  liberty,  and  that  it  is  one  of  the 
highest  aims  and  noblest  duties  of  government  to  protect 
this  God-given  and  inalienable  right,  wherever  it  pos 
sesses  the  power. 

"Very  truly  yours, 

"SCHUYLER   COLFAX." 

One  sentence  of  this  letter  is  an  ingot  of  golden  truth. 
As  a  motto  it  should  be  emblazoned  on  the  political 
banners  of  the  land.  It  should  forever  gleam  there  in 
undimming  brightness.  "Labor,  the  primal  element  of 
American  prosperity,  shall  be  honored,  elevated  and  pro 
tected"  This  is  no  narrow  creed.  It  is  the  sentiment 
of  a  heart,  that  has  known  the  straitened  circumstances 
of  poverty,  that  has  known  the  necessities  of  toil,  and 
that  is  all  ^live  with  sympathy  for  honest,  hard-handed 
industry. 


Life  of  Schuyler  Colfax.  89 

CHAPTER  IX. 

SPEECH  OF  MR.  COLFAX  UPON  "THE  BOGUS  LAWS  OF 
KANSAS" — ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS — HOLDING  THE 
BALL  AND  CHAIN— RENOMINATED  FOR  CONGRESS— RE- 
ELECTED — ELECTION  OF  MR.  BUCHANAN  PREDICTED. 

DURING  this  session  of  Congress  Mr.  Colfax  made  a 
speech  upon  '*  the  bogus  laws  of  Kansas,"  which  stamped 
him  as  one  of  the  most  effective  Congressional  orators. 
This  speech  was  extensively  circulated  as  a  campaign 
document  in  the  Presidential  contest  of  the  same  year. 
It  was  placed  in  every  house  in  Connecticut  by  the 
earnest  Eepublicans  of  that  State.  More  than  half  a 
million  copies  of  it  were  scattered  over  the  country. 
Among  the  laws,  which  in  that  speech  Mr.  Colfax  un 
earthed,  was  one  providing  a  ball  and  chain  as  a  reward 
for  free  speech  if  exercised  in  denouncing  slavery.  Mr. 
Colfax  caused  such  a  ball  to  be  procured,  and  at  the  de 
sired  moment,  it  was  brought  upon  the  floor,  and  he 
held  it  up,  as  he  spoke,  the  splendid  ornament  devised 
for  a  free  people.  Alexander  II.  Stephens,  who  sat 
near,  and  who,  being  on  the  same  Committee  with  Mr. 
Colfax,  was  intimate  with  him,  asked  him  for  the  ball, 
as  if  to  test  its  weight.  Having  satisfied  his  curiosity, 
he  offered  to  return  it ;  but  Mr.  Colfax,  looking  down 
upon  him  with  a  smile,  requested  him  to  hold  it,  until 
Jie  finished  his  speech,  and  Mr.  Stephens  complied. 
"  That  globe  of  iron,''  said  one,  speaking  of  the  scene 
after  two  years  of  the  rebellion  had  passed,  "  was  a  locket 
of  fine  gold  to  the  mill-stone  that  the  reluctant,  nerve 
less  Vice -President  of  rebels  hung  about  his  neck." 


90  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"We  add  the  following  extract  from  the  speech : 
"  In  such  a  state  of  affairs  as  this,  to  talk  of  going  to 
the  polls  and  having  the  laws  repealed  is  worse  than  a 
mockery.  It  is  an  insult.  It  is  like  binding  a  man 
hand  and  foot,  throwing  him  into  the  river,  and  telling 
him  to  swim  to  the  shore  and  he  will  be  saved.  It  is 
like  loading  a  man  with  irons,  and  then  telling  him  to 
run  for  his  life.  The  only  relief  possible,  if  Kansas  is 
not  promptly  admitted  as  a  State,  which  I  hope*may  be 
effected,  is  in  a  change  of  the  administration  and  of  the 
party  that  so  recklessly  misrules  the  land ;  and  that  will 
furnish  an  effectual  relief. 

"As  I  look,  sir,  to  the  smiling  valleys  and  fertile 
plains  of  Kansas,  and  witness  there  the  sorrowful  scenes 
of  civil  war,  in  which,  when  forbearance  at  last  ceased 
to  be  a  virtue,  the  Free  State  men  of  the  territory  felt  it 
necessary,  deserted  as  they  were  by  their  Government, 
to  defend  their  lives,  their  families,  their  property,  and 
their  hearthstones,  the  language  of  one  of  the  noblest 
statesmen  of  the  age,  uttered  six  years  ago  at  the  other 
end  of  this  Capitol,  rises  before  my  mind.  I  allude  to 
the  great  statesman  of  Kentucky,  Henry  Clay.  And 
while  the  party,  which,  while  he  lived,  lit  the  torch  of 
slander  at  every  avenue  of  private  life,  and  libelled  him 
before  the  American  people  by  every  epithet  that  ren 
ders  man  infamous,  as  a  gambler,  debauchee,  traitor,  and 
enemy  of  his  country,  are  now  engaged  in  shedding  fic 
titious  tears  over  his  grave,  and  appealing  to  his  old 
supporters  to  aid  by  their  votes  in  shielding  them  from 
the  indignation  of  an  uprisen  people,  I  ask  them  to  read 
this  language  of  his,  which  comes  to  us  as  from  his  tomb 
to-day.  With  the  change  of  but  a  single  geographical 
word  in  the  place  of  '  Mexico,'  how  prophetically  does 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  9 1 

it  apply  to  the  very  scenes  and  issues  of  this  year !  And 
who  can  dpubt  with  what  party  he  would  stand  in  the 
coming  campaign,  if  he  were  restored  to  us  from  the 
damps  of  the  grave,  when  they  read  the  following  which 
fell  from  his  lips  in  1850,  and  with  which,  thanking  the 
House  for  its  attention,  I  conclude  my  remarks. 

"  '  But  if,  unhappily,  we  should  be  involved  in  war,  in 
civil  war,  between  the  two  parties  of  this  Confederacy, 
in  which  the  effort  upon  the  one  side  should  be  to  re 
strain  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  the  new  territo 
ries,  and  upon  the  other  side  to  force  its  introduction 
there,  what  a  spectacle  should  we  present  to  the  aston 
ishment  of  mankind,  in  an  effort  not  to  propagate  rights, 
but — I  must  say  it,  though  I  trust  it  will  be  understood 
to  be  said  with  no  design  to  excite  feeling — a  war  to 
propagate  wrongs  in  the  territories  thus  acquired  from 
Mexico.  It  would  be  a  war  in  which  we  would  have  no 
sympathies,  no  good  wishes — in  which  all  mankind 
would  be  against  us ;  for,  from  the  commencement  of 
the  Revolution  down  to  the  present  time,  we  have  con 
stantly  reproached  our  British  ancestors  for  the  intro 
duction  of  slavery  into  this  country.'  " 

In  July,  1856,  the  Republicans  of  the  Ninth  Con 
gressional  District  of  Indiana  again  met  in  convention 
to  nominate  a  candidate  for  Congress.  It  was  usual  to 
open  with  an  informal  ballot  for  the  nominee.  But 
the  manner  in  which  Mr.  Colfax  had  discharged  his 
duty  in  Congress  had  met  with  so  warm  and  cordial 
an  approval,  and  the  enthusiasm  in  his  behalf  was 
so  great,  that  this  routine  action  was  forestalled,  and 
Mr.  Colfax  was  renominated  by  acclamation.  An  eye 
witness  wrote :  'k  The  spontaneous,  prolonged  and  enthu 
siastic  shouts  of  applause  which  arose  from  all  that  vast 


92  Life  of  Schuyler  Co  If  ax. 

assemblage  at  the  motion  to  nominate  him  by  acclama 
tion,  dispensing  with  a  formal  ballot  as  tame  and  super 
fluous,  declared,  more  emphatically  than  language  could 
do,  that  Schuyler  Colfax,  in  himself  and  in  the  principles 
which  he  so  ably  and  faithfully  represents,  has  a  deep 
and  firm  hold  on  the  affections  of  a  freedom-loving  con 
stituency.  That  the  people  will  give  him  a  still  more 
emphatic  endorsement  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  October 
next,  by  sending  him  back  by  an  overwhelming  majority, 
we  have  not  the  least  doubt." 

Returning  home  upon  the  adjournment  of  Congress, 
after  its  long  session,  protracted,  notwithstanding  the 
impending  Presidential  election,  to  the  last  of  August, 
he  immediately  entered  upon  the  canvass  of  the 
district  in  company  with  his  competitor,  Judge  W.  Z. 
Stuart,  of  Logansport.  The  emphatic  endorsement  that 
had  been  predicted  for  Mr.  Coli'ax  on  the  second  Tues 
day  of  October  was  given,  and  he  was  again  triumph 
antly  elected,  notwithstanding  the  national  triumph  of 
the  Buchanan  and  Breckenridge  ticket. 

This  reverse  Mr.  Colfax  had  expected  and  distinctly 
foretold  as  the  result  of  the  third  or  American  party 
movement,  headed  by  Mr.  Fillrnore.  Immediately  sub 
sequent  to  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Fillmore,  which  was 
several  months  previous  to  the  nomination  of  the  Na 
tional  Republican  Convention,  he  wrote :  "  Whether  the 
Republican  ticket  shall  be  successful  or  defeated  this 
year,  the  duty  to  support  it,  to  proclaim  and  defend  its 
principles,  to  arm  the  conscience  of  the  nation,  is  none 
the  less  incumbent.  It  is  a  movement  based  on  justice 
and  right,  consecrated  to  freedom,  commended  by  the 
teachings  of  our  Revolutionary  Fathers,  and  demanded 
bv  ihu  extraordinary  events  in  our  recent  history.  And 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax.  93 

though  its  triumphs  may  be  delayed  by  divisions,  noth 
ing  is  more  certain  to  my  mind,  even  while  breathing  the 
atmosphere  of  this  city,  where  slavery  reigns  supreme 
in  every  place  except  the  Speaker's  chair,  than  that 
the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  outside  of  State  limits 
that  institution  shall  be,  as  when  the  Constitution  was 
adopted,  seventy  years  ago,  prohibited  and  condemned 
in  all  the  territories  in  the  Union." 


CHAPTER    X. 

LECOMPTON  CONVENTION — LECOMPTON  CONSTITUTION — 
SENATE  ACCEPTS  IT — OPPOSITION  OF  SENATOR  DOUGLAS 
— HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  REJECTS  LECOMPTON — 
COMMITTEE  OF  CONFERENCE — PROPOSITION  SUBMITTED 
TO  KANSAS— PROPOSITION  REJECTED — SPEECH  OF  MR. 
COLFAX  IN  BEHALF  OF  KANSAS— INTERESTING  LETTER. 

THE  pro-slavery  Legislature  of  Kansas,  that  had  been 
chosen  by  Missouri  invaders  instead  of  the  actual  set 
tlers,  called  a  constitutional  convention  in  1857.  This 
convention  met  at  Lecompton  on  the  first  Monday  of 
September.  It  formed  a  pro-slavery  constitution,  which 
was  submitted  to  the  people  at  an  election  held  on  the 
21st  of  December  following.  But  the  strange  thing  in 
this  election  was,  that  no  one  was  allowed  to  vote  against 
this  constitution.  The  vote  was  to  be  taken  "  For  the 
constitution,  with  slavery,"  or,  "For  the  constitution,  with 
out  slavery ;"  no  other  votes  to  be  allowed  or  counted. 
The  following  return  was  made:  For  the  constitution, 


94  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

with  slavery,  6,266;  for  the  constitution,  without  slavery, 
567.  An  election,  however,  had  been  held  on  the  first 
Monday  in  October  for  a  Territorial  Legislature,  under 
the  bogus  laws.  Governor  Walker  had  given  assurances 
to  the  Free  State  men,  which  caused  them  to  attend  the 
polls.  The  Free  State  preponderance  was  so  decided 
that  it  carried  the  Legislature.  This  Legislature,  whose 
legality  was  unquestioned,  passed  an  act  submitting  the 
Lecompton  constitution  to  the  vote  of  the  people,  for  or 
against  it,  on  the  4th  of  January,  1858.  At  this  election 
the  Lecompton  constitution  was  rejected  by  over  ten 
thousand  majority  against  it.  But  when  the  Thirty-fifth 
Congress  assembled  at  Washington,  on  the  7th  of  De 
cember,  1857,  and  was  organized  by  the  election  of  Mr. 
Orr,  of  South  Carolina,  as  Speaker,  President  Buchanan, 
in  his  annual  message,  as  well  as  in  a  special  message, 
urged  Congress  to  accept  and  ratify  the  Lecompton 
constitution.  The  Senate  passed  a  bill  accepting  this 
constitution.  Senator  Douglas,  however,  took  strong 
grounds  against  it.  The  House  adopted  a  substitute,  pre 
pared  by  Senator  Crittenderi,  of  Kentucky,  and  proposed 
in  the  House  by  Mr.  Montgomery,  a  Douglas  Democrat, 
from  Pennsylvania.  This  substitute  required  a  resub- 
mission  of  the  constitution  to  the  people  of  Kansas,  under 
such  provisions  and  precautions  as  would  secure  a  fair 
vote.  It  was  adopted  by  the  House  by  a  .majority  of 
eight.  The  Senate  did  not  concur,  and  asked  for  a 
committee  of  conference.  On  motion  of  Mr.  English,  of 
Indiana,  who  had  previously  acted  with  the  Douglas* 
Democrats,  a  committee  of  conference  was  granted  by  a* 
majority  of  ^one,  the  vote  being  one  hundred  and  nine 
yeas  to  one  hundred  and  eight  nays.  The  bill  reported 
from  the  conference  committee  proposed  a  submission 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  95 

to  the  people  of  Kansas  of  a  proposition  on  the  part  of 
Congress  to  limit  and  curtail  the  grants  of  public  lands 
and  other  advantages  stipulated  in  behalf  of  said  State 
in  the  Lecompton  constitution;  and  in  case  of  their 
voting  to  reject  said  proposition,  then  a  new  conven 
tion  was  to  be  held,  and  a  new  constitution  framed. 
This  bill  passed  both  Houses ;  and  under  it  the  people  of 
Kansas,  on  the  third  of  August,  voted,  by  an  overwhelm 
ing  majority,  to  reject  the  proposition,  which  was,  in 
effect,  to  reject  the  Lecompton  constitution. 

Mr.  Colfax  was  one  of  the  acknowledged  leaders  in 
opposition  to  the  Lecompton  iniquity,  as  the  adminis 
tration  measure  for  the  admission  of  Kansas  as  a  slave 
State  was  commonly  designated.  The  following  remarks 
are  the  peroration  of  a  speech  made  by  Mr.  Colfax 
against  the  Lecompton  constitution : 

"Imagine,  sir,  George  Washington  sitting  in  the 
White  House,  that  noble  patriot,  whose  whole  career  is 
a  brilliant  illustration  of  honor  and  purity  in  high 
places ;  and  who  doubts  that,  if  such  a  constitution  as 
this  had  been  submitted  to  him  for  his  sanction,  he 
would  have  spurned  from  his  door,  with  contempt  and 
scorn,  the  messenger  who  bore  it  ?  Or,  ask  yourself,  what 
would  have  been  the  indignant  answer  of  Thomas  Jef 
ferson,  who  proclaimed  as  the  battle-cry  of  the  revolu 
tion  that  great  truth  enshrined  in  the  Declaration,  which 
has  made  his  name  immortal,  and  which  scattered  to  the 
winds  the  sophistries  and  technicalities  of  the  royalists 
of  our  land,  that  'all  governments  derive  their  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed ;'  not  the  im 
plied  consent  of  enforced  submission,  but* the  actual, 
undeniable,  unquestioned  consent  of  the  freemen,  who 
are  to  bear  its  burdens  and  enjoy  its  blessings.  If  a 


96  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

messenger  had  dared  to  enter  the  portals  of  the  White 
House  when  that  stern  old  man  of  iron  will,  Andrew 
Jackson,  of  Tennessee,  lived  within  it,  and  asked  him  to 
give  his  endorsement  and  approval,  the  sanction  of  his 
personal  character  and  official  influence,  to  a  constitution, 
reeking  with  fraud,  which  its  framers  were  seeking  to 
enforce  on  a  people,  who  protested  against  it,  and  de 
nounced,  and  loathed,  and  repudiated  it ;  and  to  go  down 
to  history  as  its  voluntary  advocate  and  champion  ;  that 
messenger,  I  will  warrant,  would  have  remembered  till 
the  latest  hour  of  his  life,  the  torrent  of  rebuke  with 
which  he  would  have  been  overwhelmed. 

"I  turn  gladly,  joyfully,  from  the  consideration  of  the 
extraordinary  arguments  to  which  I  have  alluded,  to  a 
brighter,  happier  picture,  if  you  will  only  allow  it  to  be 
painted.  The  President  complains  that  he  is  tired  of  the 
Kansas  troubles  and  desires  peace.  How  easy  is  it  to 
be  obtained  ?  Not  by  forcing,  with  despotic  power  and 
hireling  soldiery,  a  constitution  hated  and  spurned  by 
the  people  upon  a  territory  that  will  rise  in  arms  against 
it;  not  by  surrendering  the  power  and  authority  of  an 
infant  State,  into  the  hands  of  a  pitiful  minority  of  its 
citizens,  who,  by  oppressive  laws,  and  persistently  fraud 
ulent  elections,  have  continued  to  wield  the  power, 
which  a  shameless  usurpation  originally  gave  them;  but 
by  simply  asking  the  people  of  Kansas,  under  your  own 
authority,  if  you  insist  on  rejecting  the  vote  authorized 
by  their  Legislature,  the  simple,  and  yet  essential  ques 
tion,  'Do  you  desire  Congress  to  ratify  the  Lecompton 
constitution,  or  the  new  constitution  now  being  framed  T 
How  easy  is  the  pathway  to  peace,  when  justice  is  the 
guide!  How  rugged  and  devious  the  pathway  of  error, 
when  wrong  lights  the  road  of  her  followers  with  her 
lurid  torch ! 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  97 

"The  people  of  Kansas,  through  every  possible  ave 
nue  that  has  not  been  closed  by  their  enslavers,  have 
remonstrated  against  this  great  wickedness.  By  ten 
.thousand  majority  at  the  polls,  by  the  unanimous  pro 
test  of  their  Legislature,  by  public  meetings,  by  their 
newspaper  press,  and  by  the  voice  of  their  delegate  on 
this  floor,  overwhelmingly  elected  less  than  six  months 
past,  they  ask  you  to  repudiate  this  fraud.  Dragged 
here,  bound  hand  and  foot  by  a  Government  office-holder, 
who,  besides  drawing  his  pay  as  Surveyor-General, 
nets  also  as  President  of  the  Lecompton  convention,  who 
becomes,  by  its  insolent  discarding  of  all  your  territo 
rial  officers,  as  well  as  the  people's,  the  recipient  of  all 
the  returns,  fraudulent  as  well  as  genuine,  and  the  can 
vasser  of  the  votes — she  appeals  to  you  to  release  her 
from  the  grasp  of  this  despot  and  dictator,  and  to  let  her 
go  free.  In  the  language  of  an  eloquent  and  gifted 
orator  of  my  own  State,  I  say:  '  When  she  comes  to  us, 
let  it  be  as  a  willing  bride,  and  not  as  a  fettered  and 
manacled  slave.' " 

The  following  letters  from  the  editorial  correspondence 
of  Mr.  Colfax,  lift  for  us  the  veil  of  the  past,  and  give 
us  distinct  and  vivid  views,  both  in  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives,  of  the  intense  interest  attend 
ing  the  diseussion  in  Congress  of  the  Lecompton  ques 
tion. 

"  WASHINGTON,  March  25,  1868. 

"The  past  week  has  been  full  of  excitement  here,  and 
a  letter  in  regard  to  it  may  not  be  misspent  time. 

"  The  galleries  and  floor  of  the  Senate  have  been  con 
stantly  filled  during  its  daytime  and  night  sessions,  to 
listen  to  the  debates  on  the  sulject  which  engrosses  all 


98  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

minds.  The  Lecompton  fraud  has  been  most  thoroughly 
discussed  there  from  almost  every  possible  standpoint 
of  argument.  Some  of  its  friends  have  argued  that  it 
was  fairly  submitted  to  the  people,  others  that  the 
slavery  clause  alone  was  actually  submitted,  and  that 
no  other  part  of  it  needed  to  be,  and  others,  like  Mr. 
Bright,  took  the  bold  ground  that  submitting  constitu 
tions  to  a  vote  of  the  people  who  are  to  live  under  them 
is  not  in  accordance  with  the  true  principles  of  our 
Government — a  new  kind  of  Democracy,  as  it  seems  to 
me.  Bat  all  agreed  that  Lecompton  must  be  fastened 
upon  the  new  State  of  Kansas  at  all  hazards,  and  all 
united,  however  variant  their  other  arguments,  in  scout 
ing  the  ten  thousand  majority  against  it,  at  the  election 
ordered  by  the  Governor  and  Legislature  of  the  terri 
tory. 

"Last  Saturday  night,  according  to  the  agreement 
between  the  Republican  and  Democratic  members,  the 
debate  closed  on  the  part  of  the  former,  General  Wilson 
making  the  final  speech  on  their  behalf.  The  attendance 
was  very  large,  and  the  vigorous  and  telling  speech  of 
the  Massachusetts  Senator  more  than  repaid  them  for 
their  presence.  It  was  a  fitting  conclusion  of  an  able 
debate. 

"  On  Monday,  Judge  Douglas,  who  had  been  Very 
sick  during  the  past  fortnight,  was  to  speak,  if  able  to  do 
so.  And  at  nine  A.  M.,  a  large  crowd  was  in  attendance. 
The  day,  however,  was  consumed  by  other  speeches  of 
the  Democratic  party.  Messrs.  Stuart  and  Broderick, 
(and- Lecompton,)  and  Bayard  of  Delaware,  (Lecompton,) 
and  Messrs.  Green  and  Wilson,  who  had  charge  of  the 
order  of  debate,  by  resolution  of  the  Democratic  and 
Eepublican  caucuses,  fixed  on  seven  o'clock  that  even 
ing  as  the  hour  when  the  Illinois  Senator  was  to  take 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  99 

the  floor.  I  went  there  at  half-past  six,  (the  Senate  took 
a  recess  for  dinner  from  five  to  seven  p.  M.,)  and  saw 
such  a  crowd  as  I  had  never  before  seen  there.  People 
did  not  attempt  to  sit,  except  a  few  of  the  fair  sex,  but! 
were  packed  together  as  closely  as  it  was  possible  for 
ihem  to  stand,  on  the  floor,  in  the  galleries,  on  the  window 
sills,  on  the  top  of  railings,  and  in  fact  wherever  a  foot 
could  be  planted.  Crinoline  was  crushed  sadly,  and 
though  many  kept  their  seats,  when  they  had  been  so 
fortunate  as  to  get  them,  from  nine  in  the  morning  till 
the  close  of  the  debate  at  eleven  P.  M.,  I  saw  many  of 
the  oldest  members  of  the  House  apparently  glad  to 
obtain  seats  on  the  carpeted  floor.  The  officers  of  the 
Senate  say  that  such  a  mass  of  living,  breathing  hu 
manity  was  never  before  crowded  into  the  chamber 

"A  little  before  seven,  the  speaker,  whose  remarks 
such  a  multitude  were  assembled  to  hear,  forced  his  way 
through  the  mass  outside  into  the  Senate  chamber,  and 
was  greeted  with  a  very  unsenatorial  round  of  applause 
from  the  galleries  as  he  entered  the  room.  He  was  pale, 
and  looked  in  impaired  health,  but  very  determined, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  commenced  his  speech. 

u  I  have  not  time  to  go  over  its  leading  points,  which 
the  telegraph  has  doubtless  given  you.  But  his  bold 
denunciations  of  Executive  dictation  and  proscription, 
his  scarification  of  the  Eegent  Calhoun,  and  his  fore 
shadowing  of  the  future  attempts  to  force  slavery  into 
the  free  States  by  the  men  who  defend  aifd  endorse-- 
the  Lecompton  provision,  that  the  right  of  property  in, 
slaves  is  higher  and  above  all  constitutional  sanction,1 
and  his  preference  of  private  life,  with  self-respect,  to* 
public  life  with  the  advocacy  of  such  a  wicked  fraud  as 
this,  were  listened  to  by  the  Lecompton  champions  with 
evident  displeasure  and  bitterness. 


ioo  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"When  he  resumed  his  seat,  thoroughly  exhausted, 
Toombs  rose,  and,  in  a  passionate  harangue,  which  would 
surprise  even  a  Tammany  Hall  audience  by  its  manner 
and  matter,  replied  with  the  most  offensive  denunciation, 
going  out  of  his  way  to  brand  all  who  opposed  Lecomp- 
ton  as  hypocrites,  facile  instruments,  etc.,  etc.  The 
Senators  who  had  been  so  quick  in  calling  Douglas  to 
order  during  the  debates  at  the  opening  of  the  session, 
looked  on  with  pleased  complacency,  and  the  Vice- 
Prcrfident  did  not  see  fit  to  check  him.  But  after  he 
finished,  Stuart  arose,  and  in  severe  but  parliamentary 
language,  rebuked  him  as  the  occasion  required. 

"  The  bill  finally  passed  the  next  day  by  eight  majority. 
Allen,  of  Rhode  Island,  and  Jones,  of  Iowa,  violating 
their  instructions  ;  the  two  New  Jersey  Democratic  Sena 
tors,  misrepresenting  the  known  will  of  their  State,  and 
the  two  4  acting  Senators  from  Indiana,'  fittingly  swell 
ing  the  vote  in  favor  of  this  fraud  upon  the  people  of 
Kansas.  It  will  be  several  days  before  there  will  be  a 
vote  upon  it  in  the  House,  and,  without  changing  the 
opinion  expressed  in  my  last  week's  letter,  I  will  let 
that,  when  it  comes,  speak  for  itself. 

"  Last  Saturday  I  spoke  in  the  House  in  opposition  to 
this  villiany,  and,  at  the  opening,  responded  to  a  direct 
question  propounded  to  me  by  Mr.  Barksdale,  of  Missis 
sippi,  the  previous  speaker.  But  the  telegraph  to  the 
Chicago  papers  of  Monday,  which  I  have  just  received, 
so  utterly  jumbles  up  what  I  did  say,  that  I  feel 
prompted  to  correct  it  at  once.  It  says : 

" '  Mr.  Colfax,  in  response  to  Mr.  Barksdale,  said  he 
would  vote  for  the  admission  of  Kansas  as  a  free  State, 
if  her  people  came  here  with  a  slave  constitution.  He 
had  made  that  declaration  when  the  Missouri  Compro- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  101 

mise  was  repealed,  but  lie  placed  his  objection  on  graver 
grounds.' 

"  What  I  did  say  was,  that  after  the  slave  power  had 
demanded  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  I 
had  resolved  never  to  vote  for  the  admission  of  Kansas 
as  a  slave  State  under  any  contingency ;  and  that  I  ad 
hered  to  this  position  still.  If  the  people  had  been 
dragooned  by  the  army  and  the  officers  of  the  Govern 
ment  into  submission  to  such  a  constitution,  it  should 
never  be  ratified  by  my  vote.  As  it  is  now,  however, 
with  their  gallant  spirit  and  devotion  to  freedom  un 
broken,  I  would  far  rather  submit  this  Lecompton  fraud 
to  their  verdict  and  decision,  confident  that  they  would 
reject  it  overwhelmingly,  than  to  risk  it  before  this 
Congress,  over  which  the  slave  power  and  the  Execu 
tive  exercise  such  malign  power  and  influence.  Know 
ing  that  the  people  of  Kansas  long  for  an  opportunity 
to  crush  out  this  Lecompton  swindle,  I  should  be  willing 
to  refer  it  back  to  them  for  that  fair  and  full  vote  upon 
it  which  its  framers,  from  the  same  conviction,  denied  to 
them,  on  condition  that,  if  they  reject  it,  they  should 
have  the  consent  and  authority  of  Congress  given  them 
in  advance,  to  go  on  and  frame  the  free  State  constitu 
tion  which  they  desire.  There  would  be  no  more  risk 
in  that,  if  an  honest  election  was  provided  for,  than  there 
would  be  in  submitting  the  question  of  freedom  or 
slavery  to  the  people  of  Massachusetts.  But  if  the  army 
and  office-holders  of  the  Government  there  had  suc 
ceeded  in  so  breaking  the  spirit  and  crushing  the  prin 
ciples  of  the  free  State  majority  there,  (as  they  have 
ineffectually  labored  to  do,)  that  they  would  consent 
against  their  known  convictions  and  expressed  resolves, 
to  accept  this  iniquity  as  their  organic  law,  I  would  not 

even  do  that." 
6 


102  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

ADMINISTRATION  DEFEAT — THE  PURE  REPUBLICAN  VOTE 
—  COALITION  —  RINGING  AYES  —  MR.  KEITT  OF  SOUTH 
CAROLINA  —  CRITTENDEN  AMENDMENT — HORACE  F. 
CLARK — VOTE  OF  MB.  HARRIS  OF  ILLINOIS. 

The  letter  of  this  chapter  delineates  graphically  the 
intense  interest  attending  the  Lecompton  struggle  in  the 
House  of  Eepresentatives : 

"WASHINGTON,  April,  1858. 

"The  administration  has  just  met  another  defeat  on 
its  pet  Lecompton  measure  in  the  House  of  Eepre 
sentatives.  It,  too,  has  been  the  most  signal  reverse  of 
all,  exceeding  in  its  importance  and  significance  the 
three  previous  rebukes  which  the  House  had  given  to 
the  President.  The  day  for  this  decisive  vote  had  been 
fixed  by  the  Lecomptonites  themselves.  Every  appli 
ance  had  been  unscrupulously  used  to  secure  a  victory. 
Every  possible  appeal  had  been  made  to  the  members 
whose  votes  were  supposed  to  be  in  any  manner  attain 
able.  The  President  himself  had  sent  for  the  refractory 
members  from  his  own  State,  and  besought  them  to  save 
him  from  defeat.  But  every  one  stood  firm,  except 
Dewart,  of  the  Schuylkill  district,  who  could  not  with 
stand  the  President's  tears.  The  Union,  which  has  been 
threatening  and  imploring  by  terms,  declared  this  morn 
ing  that  any  Democrat  who  voted  against  Lecompton 
could  not  longer  expect  to  be  '  allowed  to  remain  within 
its  organization,'  but  '  must  expect  both  to  be  regarded 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  103 

and  dealt  with  as  its  enemy.'  Both  sides  claimed  to  be 
confident  of  victory,  but  the  anti-Lecomptons  knew  that 
theirs  was  to  be  the  triumph  of  to-day. 

"At  noon,  when  the  Speaker  took  his  chair,  the 
galleries,  which  will  seat  two  thousand  persons,  were 
crowded  to  their  utmost  capacity ;  and  on  the  floor  of 
the  hall  every  seat  seemed  to  be  occupied — an  unusual 
sight.  Every  one  looked  interested,  and  even  excited ; 
and  many  of  them,  on  each  side  of  the  House,  as  if  they 
had  had  but  little  rest  during  the  past  few  days  or 
nights.  '  The  morning  hour,'  which  really  is  an  after 
noon  one,  from  twelve  to  one  P.  M.,  was  occupied  with 
the  ordinary  business  of  the  House,  which  few  listened 
to ;  and  exactly  at  one  P.  M.,  Mr.  Stephens,  of  Georgia, 
the  Lecompton  leader,  rose,  and  moved  to  take  up  the 
Lecompton  bill.  It  was  read  the  first  time,  when  up 
rose  the  venerable  Joshua  K.  Giddings,  and  moved  that 
it  be  rejected.  For  that  motion,  ninety-two  Eepublicans 
and  three  Democrats  (Harris,  of  Illinois,  Chapman  and 
'Hickman,  of  Pennsylvania)  voted ;  but  it  was,  of  course, 
voted  down  by  a  large  majority.  The  Republican  mi 
nority  of  the  House,  having  thus  endeavored  to  destroy 
the  bill  utterly,  and  having  failed,  were  in  a  condition, 
without  even  apparent  inconsistency,  to  unite  with  other 
but  less  decided  enemies  of  the  Lecompton  fraud  in  any 
practicable  measure  to  thwart  the  President  in  his  deter 
mination  to  impose  it  upon  a  protesting  people. 

"  The  bill  was  read  the  second  time,  and  Mr.  Mont 
gomery,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  had  been  agreed  on  for 
that  purpose,  rose  and  moved  to  strike  out  the  whole 
bill  after  the  enacting  clause,  and  insert  the  Crittenden 
proposition,  as  modified  and  improved  by  conferences  of 
the  three  wings  of  the  opposition  in  the  House — the  Re- 


1O4  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

publicans,  Douglas  Democrats  and  Americans.  General 
Quitman  then  moved  to  amend  the  amendment  by  inserting 
the  Senate  bill  with  the  Pugh  amendment  struck  out.  The 
previous  question  was  moved  and  seconded ;  for  every 
one  felt  that  this  was  an  hour  for  action,  not  debate. 
First,  Quitman's  amendment  failed,  though  two-thirds 
of  the  Lecomptonites  voted  for  it,  (ninety -two  out  of  one 
hundred  and  twelve,)  showing  that  they  did  not  regard 
the  people  of  Kansas  as  being  authorized,  even  by 
resolution,  to  change  their  constitution  till  after  1864. 
And  then  came  the  test  vote,  during  the  progress  of 
which  that  vast  audience  was  so  hushed  to  silence  that, 
for  the  first  time  during  this  session,  I  was  enabled  at  my 
seat  to  hear  every  response  as  it  was  uttered,  even  from 
the  farthest  extremity  of  the  hall  on  the  other  side.  A 
close  observer  could  have  detected,  in  the  manner  of 
these  responses,  which  was  to  be  the  victorious  party. 
The  Lecomptonites,  since  they  came  into  the  hall, 
had  lost  their  hope  of  a  tie  vote,  with  the  Speaker 
to  untie  it ;  and  their  noes  were  uttered  coldly,  indig 
nantly,  and  sometimes  sullenly;  while  the  ayes  rang  out 
from  the  anti-Lecomptonites  clearly,  distinctly,  emphat 
ically,  as  if  they  came  from  cheerful,  hopeful  hearts. 
Scarcely  had  the  last  name  been  called,  when  every  one 
in  the  House  and  galleries  knew,  without  waiting  for 
the  reading  of  the  list  of  names  and  the  annunciation  by 
the  Speaker,  that  the  anti-Lecompton  forces  had  tri 
umphed  by  eight  majority;  and  when  the  Speaker  arose, 
with  evident  feeling,  and  announced,  as  calmly  as  pos 
sible,  the  defeat  of  his  friends,  a  round  of  irrepressible 
applause  rung  from  the  galleries.  Instantly,  Mr.  Keitt, 
of  South  Carolina,  who  is  unused  to  hearing  that  kind 
of  applause  here  at  Washington,  demanded,  in  an  ex- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  105 

cited  tone,  that  the  gentlemen's  galleries  should  be  cleared 
at  once.  He  forgot  that,  last  week,  when  a  New  England 
Lecomptonite  was  making  his  speech,  those  same  gal 
leries,  then  occupied  by  refugees  from  Kansas  and  clerks 
of  the  Government,  applauded  three  times,  and  until 
Mr.  Kilgore  rebuked  them,  desiring  to  know  if  pen 
sioned  officers  of  the  administration  had  been  placed 
there  to  cheer  on  the  allies.  But  the  Speaker,  who  must 
have  remembered  that  his  indignant  colleague  made  no 
objection  to  that,  declined  ordering  the  rule  to  be  en 
forced  until  a  second  offence  should  render  it  necessary. 

"  This  episode  over,  Mr.  Montgomery  now  called  for 
a  separate  vote  on  the  preamble  to  the  original  bill,  which, 
as  his  bill  was  a  substitute,  to  come  in  immediately  after 
the  enacting  clause,  could  only  be  reached  in  that  way. 
The  objectionable  features  in  the  preamble  were,  that  it 
declared  the  people  of  Kansas  had  made  this  constitu 
tion,  and  that  it  was  republican  in  form.  But  the 
Speaker  decided  that  the  House  could  not  have  a  separate 
vote  on  this,  though  they  could  on  the  title  of  the  bill — 
a  wrong  decision,  I  think ;  but,  having  thus  clearly 
expressed  the  dissent  of  the  opposition  to  these  assump 
tions  of  the  preamble,  the  bill  passed  by  one  hundred 
and  twenty  to  one  hundred  and  twelve,  eight  majority, 
and  the  House  immediately  adjourned.  The  instant 
the  Speaker  announced  the  adjournment,  and  the  hall 
became  again  'a  free  hall,'  untrammelled  by  Congres 
sional  rules,  the  pent-up  feelings  of  the  galleries  broke 
out  in  a  hearty,  earnest  round  of  enthusiastic  applause. 

"And  thus  my  predictions,  against  which  you  ex 
pressed,  editorially,  your  lack  of  confidence,  have  been 
verified.  I  do  not  wonder  at  your  doubts,  for  we  have 
had  them  here  also ;  and,  considering  the  odds  against 


io6  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

us,  it  is  wonderful  that  the  administration  has  been 
overthrown.  But  for  a  fortnight — indeed,  ever  since  I 
wrote  you  that  it  looked  as  if  the  possibility  of  its  defeat 
had  ripened  into  a  probability — I  have  been  confident  of 
success ;  so  confident,  indeed,  that  when  I  spoke  on  the 
20th  of  March,  I  took  that  occasion  to  say  that  peace, 
which  all  parties  professed  to  seek,  could  be  best  secured 
by  submitting  to  the  people  of  Kansas  the  plain  question 
whether  they  preferred  the  Lecompton  constitution  or  a 
new  one.  Of  the  result  of  that  vote,  no  candid  man  in 
the  whole  land  entertains  a  shadow  of  a  doubt. 

"The  Crittenden  amendment,  thus  passed,  admits 
Kansas  as  a  State,  refers  Lecompton  back  to  a  vote  of 
the  people  of  Kansas,  under  the  supervision  of  a  Board, 
composed  of  the  Governor  and  Secretary  of  the  Terri 
tory  and  the  two  Free  State  Speakers  of  the  Territorial 
Legislature,  three  of  whom  are  necessary  for  a  quorum. 
If  Lecompton  is  rejected,  a  new  convention  is  to  be 
elected,  a  new  constitution  framed,  and  submitted  to  the 
people.  Either  one  which  is  adopted  by  them,  is  to  be 
the  organic  law;  and,  the  vote  being  certified  to  the 
President  by  a  majority  of  the  Board,  he  is  to  declare 
Kansas  in  the  Union  by  a  public  proclamation. 

"Fair  as  this  is,  withdrawing  the  whole  subject  from 
Congress,  'localizing'  all  the  trouble  as  the  administra 
tion  professed  to  desire,  in  advocating  Lecompton,  pro 
posed  by  a  conservative  Southern  statesman,  and  which 
only  seeks  to  ascertain  and  carry  out  the  popular  will, 
the  administration  leaders  will  not  yield  to  it.  They 
insisted  to-day,  in  conversations  with  our  side,  that  the" 
Senate  would  refuse  to  concur,  and  that  the  House 
would  be  forced  to  yield  its  concurrence.  I  make  no 
predictions  in  regard  to  the  future ;  but  whoever  of  the 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  107 

one  hundred  and 'twenty  consents  to  be  dragooned  into 
submission  and  to  abandon  a  fair  measure,  which  accom 
plishes  all  that  the  administration  has  professed  to 
desire,  at  the  dictation  of  the  President,  the  Senate,  or 
the  border-ruffians  of  Kansas,  or  yields  to  other  appeals, 
deserves  *  to  sink  so  low  that  the  hand  of  resurrection 
will  never  reach  him.'  Many  Kepublicans  would  have 
preferred  not  to  vote  for  any  bill  whereby  there  could 
be  the  slightest  possibility,  in  the  remotest  degree,  of 
Kansas  being  made  a  slave  State;  but,  having  performed 
their  duty  to  their  principles  in  attempting  to  reject  the 
Senate's  bill  utterly  and  entirely,  and  it  being  evident 
that  this  or  Lecompton  would  pass,  they  resolved  to  a 
man,  from  Mr.  Giddings  down  to  the  least  anti-slavery 
member  of  all,  that,  as  political  legislators,  it  was  their 
duty  to  go  with  the  other  wings  of  the  opposition  for 
the  Crittenden  amendment,  especially  as  Governor  Rob- 
inson,  Mr.  Parrott,  the  delegate  from  Kansas,  and  every 
other  Free  State  man  here  from  that  territory,  gave  it 
their  cordial  support,  and  guaranteed  the  hoped-for 
result  there. 

"The  one  hundred  and  twenty  votes  of  which  the 
majority  was  composed  consisted  of  ninety-two  Repub 
licans,  (every  man  whom  the  people  had  elected  being  in 
his  seat,  without  a  single  exception,)  twenty-two  anti- 
Lecompton  Democrats,  and  six  Americans,  being  dele 
gates  from  Kentucky,  Maryland  and  North  Carolina. 
The  eight  Americans  from  Tennessee,  Missouri,  Georgia 
and  Louisiana,  voted  with  the  administration.  Messrs. 
English,  Foley,  and  J.  G.  Davis,  of  Indiana,  voted 
anti-Lecompton.  Indeed,  of  the  fifty-odd  Representa 
tives  from  the  States  northwest  of  the  Ohio,  only  five 
voted  with  the  Lecomptonites.  Mr.  English  had  been 


io8  Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax. 

endeavoring  to  reunite  the  party,  but  found  he  could 
not  do  it,  except  on  the  basis  of  submission ;  and  even 
if  he  had  been  willing  to  accept  that,  as  he  declared 
that  he  would  not,  no  other  anti-Lecompton  Democrat 
would  have  gone  with  him,  and  it  would  have  been 
fruitless.  He  voted  with  the  anti-Lecomptonites  to-day 
on  every  decision;  but  it  will  be  no  injustice  to  him  to 
say  that  his  repeated  efforts  to  bridge  the  gulf  between 
the  two  wings  of  the  Democracy  indicate  that  he  is  less 
decided  and  unyielding  than  the  rest  of  them. 

"  The  President  sent,  through  one  of  the  Cabinet,  to 
Horace  F.  Clark,  of  New  York,  one  of  the  anti-Lecomp 
tonites,  desiring  to  see  him.  The  firm  New  Yorker, 
who  has  withstood  appeals  that  would  shake  almost  any 
one  else,  sent  back  word  that  he  would  be  gratified  to 
meet  the  President,  but  it  must  be  after  the  Lecompton 
question  was  finally  settled,  not  before.  This  is  the  cur 
rent  rumor  here,  and  doubtless  true. 

"A  single  sentence  more  before  I  conclude  this  hasty 
letter.  Mr.  Harris,  of  Illinois,  is  far  gone  in  consump 
tion,  and  has  been  bleeding  from  the  lungs  in  the  sick 
room  ever  since  the  last  encounter  in  the  House  on  the 
outrageous  conduct  of  the  Kansas  Select  Committee, 
where  he  acted  as  the  anti-Lecompton  leader.  When  he 
entered  the  House,  exactly  five  minutes  before  one 
o'clock,  with  feeble  step,  leaning  on  the  arm  of  his  col 
league,  Morris,  a  thrill  ran  through  the  House.  He 
could  have  been  spared,  but  refused,  and  declared  that, 
if  it  cost  him  his  life,  he  should  be  in  his  seat  to  vote 
his  utter  condemnation  of  this  shameless  iniquity.  When 
one,  who  has  been  for  years  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews 
in  his  devotion  to  his  party,  of  which  he  has  been  an 
active  leader,  thus  perils  his  life  to  record  his  hostility 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  109 

to  this  tyranny,  ought  not  the  people,  who  love  justice 
and  hate  wrong,  to  imitate  his  example  and  emulate  his 
patriotism,  which  rises  higher  than  party,  and  is  willing,/ 
to  give  his  life  as  a  dying  protest  against  it." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

MR.  COLFAX  RE-NOMINATED  IN  1858 — THIRTY-SIXTH 
CONGRESS — MR.  COLFAX  CHAIRMAN1  OF  THE  COMMIT 
TEE  ON  THE  POST  OFFICE  AND  POST  ROADS — SERVICE 
TO  THE  EMIGRANTS  TO  PIKE'S  PEAK — OVERLAND  MAIL 
— OVERLAND  TELEGRAPH  —  REPUBLICAN  SUCCESS  IN 
1860  A  DUTY — THE  FAMED  MOTTO  OF  AUGUSTINE — 

MR.   LINCOLN'S    NOMINATION    AND    ELECTION  —  MR. 
COLFAX  URGED  FOR  POSTMASTER-GENERAL. 

IN  1858  Mr.  Colfax  was  again  nominated  to  Congress 
by  acclamation,  and  triumphantly  elected.  And  this 
has  been  the  method  in  which  he  has  been  nominated 
and  elected  from  the  beginning  of  his  Congressional 
career,  carrying  his  district  against  the  most  untiring 
and  gigantic  efforts  to  defeat  him ;  efforts  made  not  only 
by  the  members  of  the  Democratic  party  resident  within 
the  district,  but  by  the  leaders  and  rulers  of  that  party 
throughout  the  nation.  Presidential  power  and  patron 
age  have  been  employed  with  their  might  against  him, 
but  in  vain.  He  was  the  people's  candidate;  a  pure, 
honest,  faithful,  conscientious  man;  an  indefatigable, 
worker ;  always  alive  to  the  interests  of  his  constituents; 
kind,  genial  and  affable  in  his  mingling  with  the  people; 


no  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

a  persuasive  orator,  kindling  the  enthusiasm  of  his  hear 
ers;  unyielding  in  his  adherence  to  his  conscientious 
convictions ;  an  unsullied  patriot ;  a  statesman  with  a 
policy  that  is  synonymous  with  right ;  the  people  have 
always  vindicated  his  course  and  returned  him  to  his 
place  in  the  national  councils  over  all  opposition. 

The  Thirty-sixth  Congress  assembled  at  Washington, 
Monday,  December  5th,  1859.  A  majority  of  the  mem 
bers  of  the  House  were  opposed  to  the  administration. 
A  contest  for  the  Speakership  rivalling  that  of  the 
Thirty-fourth  Congress  delayed  the  organization  for 
eight  weeks,  when  William  Pennington,  ex-Governor  of 
New  Jersey,  was  elected  Speaker.  Mr.  Colfax  was  made 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the  Post  Office  and  Post 
Koads.  The  mail  service  everywhere,  on  land  and  sea, 
was  made  to  feel  the  vigor  of  his  influence.  He  was 
especially  solicitous  that  mail  facilities  should  be 
afforded  to  the  settlers  of  the  new  territories,  and  to 
those  who  had  gone  to  the  new  gold  regions  of  the 
Eocky  Mountains.  Through  his  special  efforts  and 
ability  in  carrying  the  measure  through  the  House 
ahead  of  the  routine  order  of  business,  the  many  thou 
sands  of  emigrants  to  Pike's  Peak,  as  Colorado  was  then 
called,  who  were  paying  from  twenty-five  cents  to  a 
dollar  to  express  agents  and  others,  for  letters  to  and 
from  the  post  offices  on  the  frontiers,  had  extended  to 
them  the  great  benefits  of  the  United  States  mail  service 
a  year  sooner  than  they  otherwise  would.  To  him  the 
credit  is  given  of  the  establishment,  by  Congress,  of  the 
Daily  Overland  Mail  from  the1  western  boundary  of 
Missouri  to  San  Francisco,  on  the  great  central  route 
through  Pike's  Peak  and  Utah.  The  Overland  Tele 
graph  bill  was  also  carried  through  Congress  chiefly 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  in 

through  his  agency ;  a  measure  which  was  considered  a 
greater  parliamentary  achievement,  as  most  of  the  mem 
bers  seemed  absolutely  opposed  to  it. 

Mr.  Colfax  entered  with  all  his  soul  into  the  great 
political  conflict  of  1860.  He  held  that  success  was  a 
duty  due  not  only  to  Kepublican  principles,  but  to  the 
age  and  the  country,  and  that  any  concession  short  of 
principle,  necessary  to  insure  that  success,  was  not  only 
wise  and  expedient,  but  also  patriotic  and  obligatory. 
"We  counsel,"  he  wrote,  "no  surrender  of  principle,  no 
abandonment  of  our  organization,  no  overture  to  unite 
with  any  of  the  opposition,  who  may  profess  to  be  more 
pro-slavery  than  the  Democracy  themselves ;  but  we  pro 
test,  if  it  can  be  avoided,  against  there  being  again,  as  in 
1856,  a  division  of  the  opposition  in  the  States  which 
are  to  decide  the  Presidential  contest;  and  a  renewal 
thereby  of  the  lease  of  ill-used  power,  which  our  oppo 
nents  have  thus  obtained.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of 
voters,  not  yet  enrolled  in  our  ranks,  sympathize  with 
us  in  our  desire  to  prevent  the  extension  of  slavery  be 
yond  its  present  limits.  Shall  we  foster  and  promote 
their  union  with  us  in  the  work  of  overthrowing  the 
Democracy,  or  shall  we  repel  all  union,  and,  from  an 
over-estimate,  perhaps,  of  our  own  strength,  hazard  a 
success  that,  with  wise  counsels,  is  already  in  our  grasp  ? 

"  We  differ  somewhat  from  those  ardent  cotemporaries 
who  demand  the  nomination  of  their  favorite  'Kepre- 
sentative-man,'  whether  popular  or  unpopular,  and  who 
insist  that  this  must  be  done  '  even  if  we  are  defeated.' 
We  do  agree  with  them  in  declaring  that  we  shall  go 
for  no  man,  who  does  not  prefer  free  labor  and  its  ex 
tension  to  slave  labor  and  its  extension ;  who  though 
mindful  of  the  impartiality  which  should  characterize 


H2  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

the  Executive  of  the  whole  Union,  will  not  fail  to  rebuke 
all  new  plots  for  making  the  Government  the  propagan 
dist  of  slavery,  and  compel  promptly  and  efficiently  the 
"suppression  of  that  horrible  slave  trade,  which  the  whole 
civilized  world  has  banned  as  infamous,  piratical  and 
accursed.  But  in  a  Republican  national  convention,  if 
any  man  could  be  found,  North,  South,  East  or  West, 
whose  integrity,  whose  life  and  whose  avowals,  rendered 
him  unquestionably  safe  upon  these  questions,  and  who 
would  yet  poll  one,  two  or  three  hundred  thousand  votes 
more  than  any  one  else,  we  believe  it  would  be  both 
wisdom  and  duty,  patriotism  and  policy,  to  nominate  him 
by  acclamation,  and  thus  render  the  contest  an  assured 
success  from  its  very  opening. 

"  Let  us  cast  a  single  glance  over  the  whole  field.  It 
was  lost  in  1856  by  a  division  of  the  opposition.  It  is 
a  fixed  fact,  that  there  is  a  decided  majority  of  the  voters 
of  the  Union  to-day,  who,  while  opposed  to  interference 
with  slavery  where  it  already  exists,  are  adverse  to  its 
extension  and  to  all  plots  to  achieve  that  end.  All  these 
voters  are  not  formally  in  the  Republican  ranks,  but  all 
are  opposed  to  the  Democracy.  Shall  an  union  of  those 
who  desire  its  overthrow  for  its  manifold  sins,  be  favored 
or  shall  it  be  repelled  ?  The  Democracy  will  doubtless 
be  playing  the  role  of  moderation,  conservatism,  etc.,  in 
1860  as  in  1856,  nominating  old-line  Whigs  again  as  in 
1856,  and  wooing  their  followers  to  their  parlors,  as  the 
spider  did  the  fly.  We  should  hope  to  see  the  Repub 
lican  ticket  successful,  and  should  earnestly  labor  for  its 
triumph,  even  if  it  should,  by  deciding  to  repel  all  allies, 
provoke  an  union  against  it,  for  its  overthrow,  instead 
of  its  opponents !  But  looking  at  our  own  State  of  In 
diana,  as  well  as  the  broader  arena  we  have  been  con- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  113 

sidering,  and  seeing  here  an  United  States  Senator,  Gov 
ernor,  Legislature,  State  officers  and  Congressional  dele 
gation,  dependent  greatly  on  the  wisdom  of  our  Presi 
dential  action,  we  hope  to  see  1860  realize  the  famed 
motto  of  Augustine,  '  In  essentials,  unity ;  in  non-essen 
tials,  liberty;  and  in  all  things,  charity.'" 

The  nomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  according  to  the 
desires  of  Mr.  Colfax's  heart.  It  was  his  judgment  that 
the  nomination  of  Mr.  Seward  would  result  in  a  largely 
increased  vote  for  the  American  party  candidate,  in  a 
loss  of  the  doubtful  States,  the  defeat  of  the  Republican 
party  and  the  prolongation  for  another  term  of  four 
years  of  the  misrule  under  which  the  country  had 
groaned  for  the  eight  preceding  years.  His  labors  in 
Indiana,  which  was  one  of  the  doubtful  States  and  one 
of  the  hard  battle-fields  of  the  great  conflict,  were  very 
abundant  and  effective  in  achieving  the  great  triumph 
that  was  won  for  the  Republican  cause. 

After  Mr.  Lincoln's  election  a  spontaneous  and  ex 
ceeding  great  public  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  President  elect  for  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Colfax  to 
a  place  in  his  Cabinet  as  Postmaster-General.  The  press, 
East,  West,  South,  North,  spoke  of  him  for  that  position 
in  the  most  flattering  terms.  The  following  was  the  lan 
guage  of  one  of  the  great  dailies  of  the  land :  "  The 
appointment  of  the  Hon.  Schuyler  Colfax  as  Postmaster- 
General  would,  in  our  judgment,  be  an  eminently  appro- 
riate  and  satisfactory  one.  It  may  be  truly  said  that 
his  personal  qualities  are  such  as  to  fit  him  for  any  post 
of  labor  or  trust.  This,  however,  we  take  it  for  granted 
is  well  known.  One  thing  is  certain,  that  any  establish 
ment  over  which  he  might  be  placed,  would  be  soon 
purged  of  every  taint  of  corruption.  He  has  the  energy 


H4  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

and  honest  purpose  demanded  for  restoring  purity  and 
thoroughness  of  administration.  He  would  probe  to  the 
bottom  every  evil  which  should  fall  under  his  super 
vision,  and  put  an  end  to  every  form  of  peculation  and 
every  degree  of  incompetence.  In  short,  whether  Mr. 
Colfax  is  or  is  not  tendered  a  Cabinet  appointment,  we 
have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the  best  interests  of  the 
Eepublican  party  and  the  new  administration  demand 
the  appointment  of  men  of  his  stamp  to  office."  Such 
notices  came  alike  from  New  England,  from  the  great 
central  States  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio, 
.from  the  Northwest,  from  the  Kocky  Mountains,  and 
from  the  States  on  the  Pacific.  Without  any  solicita 
tion  or  any  agency  on  his  part,  he  was  warmly  recom 
mended  by  the  Legislatures  and  Governors  of  nearly 
every  Northern  State,  by  a  very  large  majority  of  the 
Eepublican  Congressmen  both  in  the  Senate  and  House, 
by  all  the  publishers  of  the  great  cities  of  Philadelphia, 
New  York  and  Boston,  and  by  nearly  the  entire  Eepub 
lican  press.  As  Mr.  Colfax's  own  State  was  thought 
worthy  of  being  represented  in  the  Cabinet,  a  majority 
of  the  Presidential  electors,  a  majority  of  the  Eepublicans 
in  the  Legislature,  a  majority  of  the  Eepublican  Con 
gressmen,  the  Eepublican  Governor  elect,  a  large  major 
ity  of  the  Eepublican  press,  and  a  still  larger  majority 
of  the  Eepublican  rank  and  file,  united  in  recommending 
the  appointment  of  Mr.  Colfax.  Never  in  the  history 
of  our  Government  was  there  manifested  such  a  strong 
and  unanimous  desire  for  the  appointment  of  any  man 
to  a  place  in  the  Cabinet,  as  there  was  for  the  appoint 
ment  of  Mr.  Colfax  as  Postmaster-General.  But  Mr. 
Lincoln,  for  reasons  satisfactory  to  his  own  mind,  ap 
pointed  Caleb  B.  Smith,  of  Indiana,  as  Secretary  of  the 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  1 1 5 

Interior,  and,  of  course,  could  not  have  another  member 
in  his  Cabinet  from  Indiana,  and  Montgomery  Blair  was 
made  Postmaster-General.  But  Mr.  Lincoln  gave  Mr. 
Colfax  a  higher  place  in  his  confidence  and  in  his  heart 
than  he  had  for  him  in  his  Cabinet,  and  one  of  his 
biographers  states,  that  in  the  latter  years  of  his  admin 
istration  "he  rarely  took  any  steps  affecting  the  interests 
of  the  nation  without  making  his  intentions  known  to 
Mr.  Colfax,  in  whose  judgment  he  placed  the  utmost 
confidence." 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

HOME  AGAIN— HISTORICAL  RETROSPECT — DEEDS  OF  VIO 
LENCE — TREACHERY  IN  HIGH  PLACES — NO  OFFENSIVE 
ULTRAISM  IN  THE  TRIUMPHANT  PARTY — ESSENTIAL 
CHANGE  OF  CONSTITUTION  REJECTED — WAITING  THE 
DEVELOPMENT  OF  MR.  LINCOLN'S  POLICY. 

SOON  after  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  Mr.  Col 
fax  returned  to  his  home  at  South  Bend,  and  resumed 
his  editorial  labors.  His  first  article  was  the  following 
interesting  paper  on  the  state  of  the  country : 

HOME  AGAIN. 

"  The  stirring  events  of  the  past  four  months,  which 
sweep  before  our  eyes  at  the  command  of  memory,  as 
we  come  back  to  our  old  post  of  duty,  seem  like  the 
history  of  a  decade  rather  than  a  single  season.  When 
we  bade  good-bye  last  fall  to  the  friends  of  our  home, 


1 1 6  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

and  turned  our  face  towards  the  Eepresentative  Hall,  to 
which  their  confidence  had  commissioned  us,  the  country 
had  just  passed  through  an  exciting  contest,  in  which 
four  political  parties  had  struggled  for  victory,  and  in 
which,  although  in  many  States  three  of  these  parties 
had  combined  to  overthrow  the  one  on  whose  banners 
were  emblazoned  '  Liberty  and  Union,'  the  Eepublicans 
had  achieved  a  signal  triumph.  In  this  election  every 
State  had  participated ;  and  North  and  South,  East  and 
West,  the  whole  voting  population  of  the  republic,  to  a 
thorough  extent  never  before  known,  had  enlisted 
ardently  under  one  banner  or  another  of  this  eventful 
contest.  By  the  Constitution  under  which  we  live — by 
the  Union,  sanctified  by  the  sacrifices  of  our  fathers — 
by  the  laws  of  the  land — by  every  consideration  of 
honor  and  good  faith — by  the  previous  examples  of  the 
party  that  at  last  had  proved  successful — the  duty  of 
every  American  citizen  was  to  submit,  cheerfully  and 
manfully,  to  this  result,  however  unwelcome  it  might 
be  to  his  prejudices.  ^States,  which  did  not  expect  to 
acquiesce,  should  have  declined  to  participate.  Parties, 
which  expected  to  rebel  should,  if  imbued  with  only 
common  fairness,  have  stood  aloof.  Traitors,  whose 
hearts  were  to  be  turned  to  hate  against  the  Union,  if 
unsuccessful  in  their  votes,  might  have  somewhat  palli 
ated  their  treason  by  repudiating  in  advance  the  use  of 
the  ballot-box.  But  to  participate  zealously  in  an 
election,  and  then,  without  any  charge  that  their  defeat 
was  unconstitutionally  effected,  to  revolt,  is  to  base 
their  rebellion  on  the  morals  of  the  gambler,  who 
grasps  his  gains  when  he  wins,  but  refuses,  with  an 
armed  defiance,  to  yield  the  stakes  when  he  loses. 
"  And  yet,  although  they  thus  actively  participated — 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  117 

although  on  the  7th  of  November  last  there  was  no  law 
upon  the  statute  book  on  the  subject  of  slavery  except 
what  had  been  placed  there  bj  Southern  votes — although 
it  was  clearly  ascertained  that,  with  all  the  States  repre 
sented,  there  would  be  a  majority  against  the  Republi 
cans  in  each  branch  of  Congress  for  the  next  two  years 
— although  no  overt  act  against  their  interests  had  been, 
or  could  have  been  committed,  the  politicians  of  the 
Gulf  States  raised  at  once  the  banner  of  revolt,  and 
determined,  so  far  as  they  had  power,  to  ruin  a  republic 
which  they  could  not  rule.  True,  only  one  of  the  three 
branches  of  the  Government  had  passed  into  Republi 
can  hands — the  Executive ;  but  knowing  that  for  four 
years  to  come,  the  President  elect  could  not  be  con 
trolled  by  them  for  their  purposes  as  Pierce  and 
Buchanan  had  been,  the  Union  suddenly  became  hate 
ful  to  them ;  and,  reckless  of  the  oaths  which  so  many  of 
them  had  taken  for  its  preservation  and  protection,  they 
boldly  and  openly  declared  themselves  for  its  overthrow. 
"  The  incidents  that  followed  are,  alas,  historic.  The 
persecutions,  Barring  and  feathering/,  and  murdering  of 
unoffending  citizens  who  had  dared  to  vote  for  the  man 
of  their  choice — the  reign  of  terror,  which  soon  crushed 
out  all  show  of  resistance  to  the  edicts  of  the  oligarchy — 
the  capture  of  forts  and  arsenals  of  the  United  States — 
the  insults  to  that  noble  flag,  whose  stars  had  never 
paled  in  the  face  of  a  foe,  and  whose  stripes,  till  thus 
disgraced  by  the  men  whom  it  had  protected,  had  never 
been  unfurled  except  to  wave  in  honor  and  glory — the 
piratical  seizure  of  vessels  of  the  American  navy — the 
theft  of  gold  and  silver  coin  in  the  mint  and  sub- 
treasury  at  New  Orleans — the  seizure  of  hospitals,  pro 
vided  by  the  humanity  of  the  whole  Union,  ad  homes 


1 1 8  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

for  the  sick  seamen  of  the  South,  and  their  conversion 
into  barracks  for  the  soldiers  who  rejoiced  in  the  rattle 
snake  or  pelican  flag  —  these,  and  a  thousand  other 
incidents  that  can  never  be  blotted  from  the  page  of 
history,  are  crowded  into  the  record  of  the  winter  that 
has  recently  closed. 

"But,  even  worse,  if  possible,  than  all  this,  there  was, 
for  the  first  time  in  our  nation  since  the  days  of  Arnold, 
the  most  unblushing  treachery  in  the  highest  places  of 
the  land ;  treason  in  the  White  House ;  treason  in  the 
Cabinet;  treason  in  the  halls  of  Congress;  treason  in 
the  field.  A  Jackson  or  a  Taylor  would  have  crushed 
the  conspiracy  at  the  outset.  But  the  Democratic  ad 
ministration  of  James  Buchanan  gave  aid  and  comfort, 
in  every  possible  way,  to  the  plotters  and  the  plot.  The 
gallant  chieftain,  Scott,  urged  the  Secretary  of  War  to 
reinforce  the  forts  before  the  cloud  in  the  horizon  was 
as  large  as  a  man's  hand ;  but  Floyd  refused.  On  the 
contrary,  for  months  before,  he  had  been  scattering  the 
army,  dismantling  the  forts  to  leave  them  an  easy  cap 
ture,  distributing  arms  by  the  hundreds  of  thousands 
from  the  North  all  over  the  Southern  States,  where  they 
could  be  most  easily  seized,  and,  since  his  resignation, 
has  boasted  of  his  work. 

"Thompson,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  aided  in  this 
shameless  scheme  ;  and,  while  still  a  Cabinet  officer,  not 
only  journeyed  to  North  Carolina  as  a  Commissioner 
from  Mississippi  to  urge  them  into  open  treason,  but 
also  telegraphed  to  Charleston  the  despatch  which  caused 
the  rebels  there  to  fire  upon  that  'flag  of  beauty  and  of 
glory,'  under  which  supplies  were  being  borne  to  a  gal 
lant  band  of  American  soldiers  in  their  harbor,  and  thus 
dishonored  the  banner  that  a  Marion  or  a  Sumter  would 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  1 1 9 

have  died  to  defend.  He,  too,  "has  since  boasted  of  his 
share  in  this  work  of  shame.  Toucey,  as  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  sent  off  our  fleets  to  the  very  ends  of  the 
earth ;  so  that,  when  the  long-planned  treason  was  de 
veloped,  but  a  single  frigate  ready  for  service  could  be 
found  on  our  shores.  And  Buchanan,  whether  from  im 
becility,  or  willingness  to  realize  his  own  prediction,  that 
he  would  be  the  last  President  of  the  United  States, 
stood  by,  like  Saul  at  the  stoning  of  Stephen,  consenting 
to  the  act,  if  not  directly  aiding  in  its  wickedness. 

"And  thus  was  this  dark  deed  of  treason  consum 
mated.  Unaided  by  the  administration,  the  conspirators 
would  have  failed.  With  an  honest,  patriotic  adminis 
tration  in  power,  their  plans  would  have  been  easily 
checkmated.  But,  with  officers  on  the  quarter-deck 
and  at  the  helm,  steering  the  ship  of  State  full  on  the 
breakers,  granting  full  license  to  the  mutineers  amongst 
her  crew,;  and  their  own  subordinates,  in  the  Interior 
and  War  Departments,  pillaging  the  money-chests  in  the 
very  midst  of  the  storm,  is  it  any  wonder  that  she  passed 
into  the  hands  of  her  new  officers  almost  a  wreck  ? 

"But,  while  these  scenes  were  rapidly  transpiring, 
Congress  was  called  upon,  from  various  quarters,  to 
adopt  some  compromise;  not  to  satisfy  the  seceded 
States,  for  their  leaders  often  declared,  if  the  Eepublican 
party  would  sign  stipulations  in  blank  and  leave  them 
to  fill  up  the  terms  themselves,  they  would  not  stay 
with  them ;  and  it  was  evident  that  nothing  short  of 
Lincoln's  resignation  would  appease  their  wrath; — not 
to  satisfy  the  North,  for  it  had  learned  to  submit  to 
the  most  distasteful  laws,  to  the  most  obnoxious  results, 
to  the  most  unwelcome  rulers;  but,  while  Mr.  Bu 
chanan  was  arguing  in  his  messages  that  new  heresy, 


I2o  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

which  has  since  found  so  many  advocates,  that  the  en 
forcement  of  the  laws  and  the  maintenance  of  the  Union 
against  all  enemies  of  either,  is  coercion,  it  was  insisted 
that  something  must  be  done  for  the  Border  States. 
The  hero  of  the  Hermitage,  had  he  been  living,  would 
have  awakened  their  patriotism  by  a  proclamation,  that 
would  have  stirred  the  blood  of  every  loyal  citizen. 
Washington  would  have  stemmed  the  tide  of  insurrec 
tion  if  he  had  had  to  take  the  field  in  person.  And 
Taylor  would  have  lived  out  in  his  acts,  the  stern  lan 
guage  with  which  he  replied  to  Toombs,  when  that 
domineering  Georgian  menaced  him,  as  he  lay  on  that 
sick-bed  from  which  he  was  carried  to  his  grave,  with 
threats  of  resistance  and  disunion. 

"But  President  Buchanan,  while  on  the  one  hand  he 
held  the  army  and  navy  in  check,  tying  the  hands  of 
Anderson  while  a  net- work  of  fortifications  was  being 
built  around  his  beleaguered  fort — on  the  other  hand  in 
sisted  on  '  compromise,'  himself  suggesting  terms  in  his 
message  that  he  knew  were  totally  inadmissible,  and 
thereby  fanning  into  a  fiercer  flame  the  embers  of  dis 
affection  and  disloyalty.  Republicans,  amongst  whose 
two  million  of  voters  there  was  not  a  single  man  who 
did  not  expect  to  submit,  if  beaten  at  the  election,  were 
appealed  to,  under  the  pretence  of  compromise,  to  con 
cede  away  their  principles  to  save  an  Union  already 
broken  by  treason.  Thank  God,  they  stood  firm  and 
unyielding  against  the  humiliations  and  the  national 
disgrace  their  enemies  besought  them  to  sanction.  Wil 
ling  to  go  to  the  utmost  verge  of  conciliation,  they  could 
not  consent  to  make  slavery  our  national  corner-stone. 
But  they  did  not,  on  the  other  hand,  exhibit  any  offensive 
ultraism  in  their  policy.  They  organized  three  territories 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax.  121 

without  a  word  about  slavery  in  either  of  the  bills; 
because  under  a  fair  administration,  which  would  not 
use  its  armies  and  its  influence  for  slavery,  and  with 
Governors  and  Judges  who  were  not  hostile  to  free 
principles,  they  felt  willing  to  risk  the  issue  and  to 
waive  a  positive  prohibition,  which  would  only  have 
inflamed  the  public  mind  and  thwarted  the  organizations 
by  a  veto  from  Mr.  Buchanan.  To  answer  the  clamor 
about  Personal  Liberty  Bills,  they  voted  for  a  resolution, 
in  which  as  radical  Eepublicans  as  Mr.  Lovejoy  joined, 
recommending  the  repeal  of  such  as  were  unconstitu 
tional.  To  show  that  they  had  no  designs  on  slavery  in 
the  States,  as  has  been  so  falsely  charged  upon  them  by 
their  enemies,  they  voted  unanimously  that  Congress 
had  no  right  or  power  to  interfere  therein.  When  it 
was  urged  that  possibly  but  seven  slave  States  might 
remain  in  the  Union,  and  that  the  North,  with  Pike's 
Peak  and  Nebraska,  might  soon  number  twenty-one 
free  States,  and  that  then,  by  a  three-fourths  vote,  the 
Constitution  might  legally  be  so  amended  as  to  exercise 
that  power,  a  large  portion  of  the  Republicans  aided  in 
proposing  to  the  States,  as  a  proffer  for  peace,  a  Consti 
tutional  amendment,  declaring  that  under  all  circum 
stances  the  Constitution  shall  remain  on  that  question 
exactly  as  it  came  from  the  hands  of  Washington  and 
Madison,  unchangeable,  thus  assuring  to  the  Border 
States  absolute  protection  against  all  interference.  But 
here  the  furthest  limit  of  concession  was  reached.  And 
when  demands  were  made  in  the  shape  of  the  Crittenden 
and  the  Border  State  Compromise,  that  it  should  be  de 
clared  that  in  all  territories  south  of  36°  30',  slavery 
should  exist  and  be  protected  as  property,  irrespective 
of  and  even  in  opposition  to  the  public  will,  by  consti- 


122  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

tutional  sanction,  which  should  also  be  irrepealable,  and 
that  thus  the  Constitution  should  absolutely  prohibit  the 
people  of  the  territories  in  question,  from  establishing 
freedom  even  if  they  unanimously  desired  it,  the  answer 
was  NO.  And  by  that  answer,  for  one,  we  are  willing 
to  live  and  to  die.  Nor  could  we  assent  to  any  essential 
change  in  that  noble  instrument,  the  New  Testament  of 
Freedom,  baptized  as  it  was  in  the  blood  of  heroes,  who 
died  to  give  us  its  safe-guards,  and  consecrated,  as  it  is,  by 
the  prayers  of  the  patriots  who  framed  it.  They  intended 
it  for  a  great '  charter  of  liberty,  and  so  it  must  remain 
until  the  nation  ceases  to  be  worthy  of  its  protection. 
When,  instead  of  slavery  being  barely  the  local  excep 
tion  to  its  fundamental  principles,  as  is  now  the  case,  it 
becomes  by  any  amendment,  its  great  central  idea,  we 
shall  be  so  abased  and  dishonored,  that  Madison,  who 
refused  to  allow  in  it  any  word  that  would  recognize 
property  in  man,  would  scorn  to  acknowledge  us  as  in 
heritors  of  that  revolutionary  glory,  of  which  as  a  nation 
we  have  been  so  justly  proud. 

"But  we  must  hasten  with  this  hurried  review  of  the 
past  few  months  to  a  conclusion.  President  Lincoln, 
unable  to  grasp  with  his  firm  hand  the  trembling  helm 
of  State,  while  traitors  were  demoralizing  the  govern 
ment  and  the  people,  during  the  long  and  gloomy  winter, 
found,  when  he  took  the  oath  of  office  in  the  opening 
spring,  the  country  in  ruins,  and  secession  almost  an 
accomplished  fact.  With  unshaken  faith  in  his  coolness, 
his  judgment,  and  his  determination,  and  with  a  full 
consciousness  of  all  the  mortifying  embarrassments  be 
queathed  to  him  by  his  predecessor,  we  wait  anxiously 
to  see  him  develop  his  policy.  We  believe  that  those 
who  have  pressed  on  him  the  expediency  of  '  masterly 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  123 

inactivity'  will  find  Ms  strong  mind  rejecting  it;  for 
that  policy  has  no  terror  to  evil-doers ;  and  it  is  only  when 
the  Union  men  in  the  Gulf  States  find  that  they  are  to 
receive  the  powerful  support  of  the  Government,  that 
they  will  dare  to  uprise  against  their  oppressors.  We 
believe  that  Mr.  Lincoln  fully  endorses  the  doctrine  of 
Jefferson,  that  no  foreign  nation  can  ever  have  control 
of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  that  it  must 
be  under  the  full  and  absolute  control  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States.  And  we  know  that  if  this  policy 
is  declared  and  carried  out,  any  party  in  the  Northwest 
which  shall  dare  to  array  themselves  against  it  will  be 
overwhelmed  by  the  masses  of  patriotic  citizens,  irre 
spective  of  political  ties,  who  will  rejoice  to  stand  by  the 
administration  on  such  an  issue  as  the  indivisibility  and 
perfect  freedom  of  the  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
from  its  source  to  its  mouth.  Here,  certainly,  the  path 
ways  of  policy  and  of  principle  lie  in  the  same  direction, 
and  duty  and  expediency  clasp  hands  in  its  favor." 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE  OPENING  OF  THE  WAR — THE  DIE  IS  CAST — THE  HE 
ROIC  DEFENDER  OF  FORT  SUMTER — HIS  INTERESTING 
CONVERSATION — FROM  WASHINGTON  TO  PHILADELPHIA 
VIA  ANNAPOLIS  AND  PERRY  VILLfi — SPEECH  OF  MAJOR 
ANDERSON. 

ON  the  12th  of  April,  1861,  the  rebel  guns  opened 
upon  Fort  Sumter,  and  war,  dread  war,  had  come,  on 


124  Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax. 

land  and  sea — "war  with  a  thousand  battles."     The  fol 
lowing  brief  editorial  was  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Colfax : 

THE  DIE  IS  CAST. 

"Our  columns  are  crowded  with  the  exciting  news 
that  has  poured  in  on  us  during  the  last  few  days,  and 
we  have  but  brief  space  for  editorial  comment. 

"  South  Carolina  has  courted  the  infamy  of  lighting 
the  torch  of  civil  war.  Forbearance  on  the  part  of  the 
national  Government,  almost  to  the  extreme  of  humilia 
tion,  has  been  met  with  arrogance  and  insult,  until,  un 
able  to  force  the  United  States  into  any  act  of  bloodshed 
and  violence,  which  they  could  make  a  pretext  for  their 
act,  they  have  most  wickedly  precipitated  the  Eepublic 
into  war.  They  have  opened  the  fires  of  their  murder 
ous  batteries  on  the  flag  that  Washington  loved,  and 
which  Jackson  and  Taylor  and  Scott  illumined  with 
so  many  glorious  triumphs — a  parricidal  act,  as  infamous 
as  the  ruffian  who  aims  a  death-blow  at  the  mother  who 
had  borne  and  nurtured  him.  They  have  trampled  the 
constitution  and  the  laws,  which  they  have  sworn  to 
support,  under  their  feet ;  and  they  avow  their  purpose 
to  overthrow  the  Government  they  can  no  longer  rule, 
by  the  force  and  power  of  arms. 

"  But  the  awakened  and  bounding  patriotism  of  the 
American  people  proves  they  have  reckoned  without 
their  host.  Henceforth  it  is  evident  all  party  divisions 
are  to  be  forgo tton.  The  question  whether  our  Govern 
ment  has  a  right  to  exist,  towers  above  all  others.  The 
only  issue  is  to  be  between  patriots  and  traitors.  All 
men  must  range  themselves  under  the  reptile  flag  of 
disunion,  or  the  resplendent  stars  and  stripes,  every 
thread  of  which  has  been  consecrated  by  the  blood  of 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax,  125 

heroes,  who  lived  and  died  under  its  folds.  There  can 
be  no  neutrals  in  this  struggle.  They  who  are  not  for  the 
American  Union,  the  American  Constitution,  and  the 
American  Flag,  against  treason  and  rebellion,  against 
perfidy  and  revolution,  against  the  architects  of  ruin 
and  the  inaugurators  of  civil  war,  are  in  sympathy  with 
the  traitors,  and  will  be  known  as  the  cow-boys  of  1861, 
who,  like  the  cow-boys  of  the  Revolution,  will  be  re 
garded  in  history  as  lower  than  the  enemies  whom  they 
aided  and  abetted.  While  with  all  loyal  men  the  motto 
'God  and  our  country,'  will  unite  them,  as  with  one 
heart  and  soul,  for  the  stern  duties  of  the  impending 
contest." 

Mr.  Colfax  was  immediately  called  away  from  home 
in  the  service  of  the  Government.  Several  important 
missions  were  committed  to  his  trust.  The  following 
from  his  pen  respecting  Major  Anderson,  the  heroic  de 
fender  of  Fort  Sumter,  is  of  abiding  interest : 

ROBERT  ANDERSON, 

THE  HEROIC   DEFENDER   OF   FOKT   SUMTER. 

"In  our  two  weeks  absence  from  our  readers,  we  have 
been  travelling  some  four  thousand  miles  in  Canada,  the 
East,  etc.,  in  the  service  of  the  State ;  but  the  most  in 
teresting  incident  to  us  personally  of  the  whole  trip,  has 
been  the  acquaintance  we  formed  with  Major,  now  Col 
onel  Anderson,  whose  heroic  conduct  during  the  last  four 
months  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston,  has  given  him  so 
strong  a  lodgment  in  the  hearts  of  the  American  people, 
and  such  an  enviable  place  in  American  history. 

"  We  met  him  first  in  the  War  Department,  in  Wash- 


126  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

ington,  and  found  him  that  plain,  unassuming  gentleman, 
which  all  reports  had  declared  him  to  be — loving  his 
flag  and  country  with  a  most  fervid  devotion,  evidently 
more  a  man  of  deeds  than  of  words,  and  with  a  face  that 
exhibited  unyielding  determination  in  its  every  linea 
ment.  The  next  morning,  just  after  the  fire  lit  by  the 
hand  of  an  incendiary  that  threatened  Willard's  Hotel, 
had  been  subdued  by  the  gallant  Zouave  Kegiment  of 
New  York  Firemen,  we  spent  an  hour,  on  his  invita 
tion,  with  him  in  his  room,  conversing  on  the  stirring 
incidents  of  the  eventful  months  that  have  recently 
passed,  and  the  next  day  travelled  in  his  company  from 
Washington  to  Philadelphia,  over  the  United  States 
military  route,  via  Annapolis,  Chesapeake  Bay  and 
Perryville. 

"  We  cannot,  in  the  limits  of  a  newspaper  article,  detail 
all  of  his  deeply  interesting  conversation ;  but  must 
content  ourself  with  a  few  points. 

"  In  response  to  an  inquiry  whether  he  had  ever 
thought  of  blowing  up  the  fort,  with  his  entire  command 
and  himself,  he  replied  in  substance  as  follows :  '  That 
finding  his  position  at  Fort  Moultrie  untenable,  and  the 
danger  of  an  attack  on  him  increasing,  he  determined 
to  remove  to  Fort  Sumter.'  Writing  to  the  War  Depart 
ment  he  remarked :  '  If  I  were  in  Sumter,  my  command 
would  be  safe,  if  no  additional  fortifications  should  be 
built;'  but  this  hint  seemed  to  escape  Mr.  Floyd's 
notice.  He  then  told  the  Charlestonians,  who  frequently 
visited  Fort  Moultrie,  that,  not  knowing  when  an  attack 
might  be  made  on  him,  he  should  remove  the  women 
and  children  from  it ;  and  without  any  attempt  at 
secresy,  employed  two  schooners  for  this  purpose. 
People  came  to  his  wharf  in  the  afternoon  while  he  was 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  127 

packing  the  furniture,  bedding,  etc.,  on  the  vessels,  and 
they  were  removed  as  he  had  said.  After  night,  feeling 
that  he  had  a  right  to  make  himself  and  his  soldiers  safe, 
as  well  as  the  women,  he  embarked  them  also  on  the 
vessels,  and  before  morning  they  were  safe  within  the 
walls  of  Sumter.  The  people  of  Charleston,  when  this 
movement  was  discovered,  became  exceedingly  bitter 
and  full  of  wrath.  General  Jennison,  the  President  of  the 
State  Convention,  called  on  Major  Anderson  and  told 
him  of  their  indignation  against  him — asseverating  that 
twenty  thousand  people  were  ready  to  surround  the  fort, 
and  to  work  their  way  into  his  command  if  they  had  to 
pick  the  bricks  out  of  the  wall  with  their  ringers.  'Let 
them  try  it,'  coolly  replied  Major  Anderson,  'and  when 
they  have  made  the  breach,  they  will  find  that  we  prefer 
death  to  being  butchered.  The  magazine  shall  end  the 
contest,  and  they  will  find  here  neither  fort  nor  men.' 

"  When  the  bombardment  commenced,  they  were  en 
tirely  out  of  bread,  rice,  etc.  Their  stock  of  supplies 
was  a  few  days  rations  of  salt  meat  and  coffee.  The 
fire  was  opened  on  them  at  four-and-a-half  A.  M.,  bat 
tery  after  battery  joining  in  the  murderous  attack.  The 
Major  took  it  very  calmly ;  divided  his  men  into  com 
panies  to  relieve  each  other ;  had  their  scanty  breakfast 
prepared,  which  they  partook  of  in  silence,  while  the 
iron  hail  was  crashing  against  their  walls;  prepared  ad 
ditional  cartridges  by  tearing  up  the  flannel  shirts  of  the 
men,  their  bed-clothes,  etc. ;  got  out  a  supply  of  powder 
from  the  magazine ;  and  after  nearly  four  hours  silence, 
the  fort  at  last  opened  most  vigorously  on  their  assail 
ants.  Hot  coffee  was  kept  on  the  boiler  in  the  cook- 
room  for  the  men  to  partake  of  whenever  they  pleased ; 
and  they  worked  the  guns  with  a  will.  They  fired  but 


128  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

few  shells ;  for  the  only  guns  for  that  kind  of  ammuni 
tion  were  the  barbette  ones  on  the  open  rampart,  many 
of  which  were  dismounted  by  the  continuous  fire  of  the 
enemy,  and  the  serving  of  which,  from  the  lack  of  case 
mate  protection,  would  have  rapidly  thinned  out  the 
Major's  little  band. 

"  The  Major  does  not  evidently  credit  the  South  Caro 
lina  story  that  no  one  was  hurt  on  their  side  ;  but,  with 
his  usual  caution,  expressed  no  positive  opinion  on  the 
subject,  having  no  means  of  knowing  what  were  the 
actual  facts. 

"  Although  the  batteries  kept  up  the  fire  on  the  fort, 
at  intervals,  all  night,  to  prevent  the  men  from  sleeping, 
they  failed  in  their  object.  He  ordered  the  men  to  bed, 
and  they  slept  soundly,  while  the  sentinels  alone  kept  on 
duty.  Although  he  had  been  up  the  night  before,  in  the 
correspondence  and  conference  with  Beauregard's  aids, 
he  stayed  up  this  night  also,  thinking  that,  by  a  bare 
possibility,  some  small  boat  from  the  relief  squadron 
might  work  their  way  up  to  the  fort.  But  they  did  not, 
and  he  was  satisfied  that  relief  was  an  impossibility.  It 
was  *  too  late,'  and  he  rejoiced  that  the  fleet  did  not  en 
danger  themselves  by  the  attempt. 

"  The  reports,  that  were  telegraphed  from  Charleston 
to  the  North,  that  when  his  barracks  were  on  fire  relief 
was  proffered  him,  that  when  his  flag  was  shot  down 
another  one  was  tendered,  that  after  the  evacuation  he 
was  the  guest  of  Beauregard,  are  all  equally  untrue. 
When  his  fort  was  filled  with  the  smoke  of  his  burning 
quarters,  the  hostile  batteries  redoubled  their  fire  on 
him.  He  says  that,  though  the  Charleston  Mercury  is 
now  denouncing  him  for  having  spoken  in  condemna 
tion  of  this  at  the  North,  he  has  the  satisfaction  of  re- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  1 29 

membering  that  he  spoke  of  it  with  equal  frankness  to 
the  Carolinians. 

"  At  the  evacuation,  he  said  to  one  of  the  officers : 
'If  our  cases  had  been  reversed,  and  your  quarters  were 
on  fire,  I  should  have  stopped  firing,  and  offered  aid  to 
extinguish  the  flames.  War  is  a  sad  business  at  best, 
and  we  should  strive  to  humanize  it  as  much  as  possi 
ble.'  The  officer  replied :  '  We  did  just  right.'  'Then, 
sir,'  said  Anderson,  'we  need  have  no  further  conversa 
tion.' 

"  His  statement,  of  Wigfall's  conversation  with  him, 
when  he  agreed  to  evacuate,  differs  materially  from 
Wigfall's  version  as  telegraphed.  Wigfall  did  not  de 
mand  an  'unconditional  surrender,'  and  the  fort  in  fact 
never  was  surrendered.  He  insisted  that  'this  thing' 
should  be  stopped — that  Anderson  had  bravely  defended 
his  flag,  that  further  contest  was  useless,  and  that  Gen 
eral  Beauregard  wished  to  know  on  what  terms  he  would 
evacuate.  '  On  those  formerly  proffered,'  replied  Ander 
son.  When  Beauregard's  acting  aids  came,  a  short  time 
after,  and  told  him  Wigfall  had  not  seen  their  chief  for 
two  days,  Anderson  said :  ( I  have  been  imposed  on, 
then;  the  white  flag  must  come  down  and  the  fight  go 
on.'  But,  as  he  had  hoisted  it  after  the  Wigfall  confer 
ence,  at  their  request,  he  let  it  fly  till  Beauregard  ratified 
the  terms.  Major  Anderson  regards  the  whole  matter 
from  last  December  until  now  as  providential,  and  as 
intended,  in  the  end,  to  arouse  the  magnificent  demon 
stration  of  loyalty  now  witnessed  in  the  country,  and  he 
regards  Wigfall's  visit  as  specially  so.  He  had  then  but 
three  cartridges  left;  a  shot  had  gone  through  his  wall 
and  into  a  magazine,  in  which,  fortunately,  there  was 
only  fixed  ammunition  and  no  powder,  and  his  gate  was 


130  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

burned  down,  making  a  practicable  breach,  through 
which  he  could  have  been  stormed  and  placed  at  their 
mercy.  And  he  speaks  with  great  satisfaction  of  the 
fact,  that  the  flag  he  hoisted  on  bended  knee,  after 
prayer,  the  next  day  after  he  entered  Sumter,  was  never 
lowered.  They  had  two  flags  at  the  fort,  a  large  garrison 
flag,  which  he  raised  when  he  took  up  his  quarters  at 
Sumter,  and  a  smaller  one,  called  the  storm-flag.  The 
former  had  a  slight  rip  in  it ;  and  when  he  was  notified 
that  in  one  hour  the  batteries  would  open  upon  him,  he 
ordered  the  storm-flag  to  be  raised  in  its  stead.  This 
flag  was  never  at  half-mast,  as  telegraphed.  The  enemy 
constantly  fired  at  it,  and  the  halyards  were  shot  away, 
when  it  ran  down  a  little,  became  entangled  with  the 
dissevered  ropes,  and  fixed  so  that  it  could  neither  be 
pulled  down  nor  hoisted  up — virtually  nailed  to  the 
mast. 

"  The  remark,  so  widely  criticised,  made  by  him  to 
Beauregard's  officers:  'If  not  reinforced,  I  shall  be 
starved  out,  or  battered  to  pieces  in  a  few  days,'  and 
which  was  telegraphed  to  Jefferson  Davis  and  all  over 
the  country,  he  never  uttered  officially,  nor  expected  to 
see  repeated.  After  refusing  in  writing  to  surrender,  he 
made  the  ab(5ve  remark  in  a  general  conversation,  as  he 
was  about  bowing  them  out  of  the  fort,  knowing  that 
they  knew,  as  they  had  stopped  his  supplies  several  days 
before,  that  he  was  at  that  very  time  out  of  bread,  pota 
toes,  fresh  meats,  rice,  cabbage,  etc.  He  thinks,  however, 
that  by  their  catching  at  it  and  publishing  it,  they  only 
put  themselves  more  in  the  wrong ;  as  it  proved  that  all 
sides  fully  understood  that,  in  a  few  days  at  most,  his 
already  half- starved  garrison  would  be  entirely  starved 
out,  without  firing  a  gun  at  the  flag  or  the  fort,  or 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  131 

endeavoring  to  slaughter  the  soldiers  who  but  performed 
their  duty  in  defending  both. 

"  He  said  that  all  the  time  he  was  in  Sumter  he  was 
in  a  genteel  state's  prison.  Visits  could  only  be  made 
to  him,  even  by  his  sick  and  anxious  wife,  by  consent 
of  the  Carolina  authorities — when  they  chose,  they 
would  refuse  to  let  him  buy  potatoes ;  and  a  present  of 
two  cases  of  tobacco  from  New  York,  to  the  soldiers, 
was  kept  in  Charleston,  after  being  examined,  three 
weeks,  before  they  were  allowed  to  taste  what  was  such 
a  luxury  to  them,  and  of  which  they  had  been  for  so 
long  a  time  deprived. 

"Alluding  to  an  'impregnable  fort'  being  on  fire 
inside,  which  caused  so  much  remark  during  the  bom 
bardment,  he  said  he  had  always  disapproved  of  wooden 
barracks  being  created  in  such  localities,  and  that  for 
years  he  had  been  convinced  that  iron  was  the  proper 
material. 

"We  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  the  famous 
floating  battery,  and  his  reply  was  that  its  guns  were 
effective,  but  that  from  their  not  anchoring  it  in  the 
river  near  the  fort,  but  mooring  it  at  Sullivan's  Island, 
its  builders  seemed  to  lack  confidence  in  its  boasted 
impregnability. 

"  Major  Anderson  became  a  Colonel  by  promotion 
while  he  was  at  the  Capital,  and  remarked  jocosely 
that  '  thirty  years  ago  he  had  the  same  rank  and  had 
just  got  back  to  it  again.'  In  the  Black  Hawk  war  he 
had  a  staff  commission,  which  gave  him  the  honorary 
rank  of  Colonel ;  but  he  has  at  last  reached  it  by  de 
served  promotion,  step  by  step,  in  the  regular  service. 
He  will  be  a  General  before  1861  is  numbered  with  the 
past. 


132  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax » 

"His  route  from  Washington;  via  Annapolis  and 
Perryville  to  Philadelphia,  was  a  perfect  ovation.  At 
every  station  in  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  soldiers 
and  citizens  rushed  to  the  cars,  cheered  him  to  the  echo, 
insisted  on  shaking  hands  with  him  through  the  car 
window,  and  if  the  car  doors  had  not  been  locked, 
would  have  entered  and  carried  him  off.  At  Perryville, 
Md.,  when  we  all  landed  from  the  steamer  on  the 
Chesapeake  and  took  the  cars  for  Philadelphia,  we  were 
half  an  hour  ahead  of  time,  and  while  waiting  for  the 
time  of  starting,  he  was  most  vociferously  cheered,  and 
Mrs.  Lincoln  also,  who  was  going  North  in  the  same 
train.  The  crowd  insisted  on  a  speech,  and  at  his  re 
quest  and  Mrs.  Lincoln's,  we  responded  for  both  of 
them.  Colonel  Curtis,  of  Iowa,  also  spoke.  But  the 
extemporized  mass  meeting,  and  the  soldiers  especially, 
insisted  that  he  should  speak,  and  he  finally  responded 
as  follows  (we  gi  ve  the  speech  in  full) : 

" '  Fellow-soldiers :  My  friends  from  Indiana  and 
Iowa  have  spoken  for  all  of  us  in  response  to  your 
kind  greeting ;  and  I  only  appear  before  you  because 
you  insist  on  it.  My  duty  is  to  act  and  not  to  speak. 
This  also  is  to  be  yours.  Be  faithful  to  your  country, i 
to  which  you  owe  so  much.  Be  true  to  your  glorious 
flag.  Put  your  trust  in  God,  and  all  will  be  right. 
God  bless  you.' 

"  Mr.  Halstead,  of  New  Jersey,  Mr.  Woods,  a  Union 
man  from  Texas,  and  Simeon  Draper,  of  New  York,  also 
spoke ;  but  that  short,  expressive  speech  of  Anderson's 
eclipsed,  and  most  justly,  all  the  other  speeches  made  in 
that  half  hour  combined.  At  Philadelphia  his  reception 
was  magnificent." 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

CIVILIANS  AND  MILITARY  SEEVICE— DUTIES  OF  CONGRESS 
— LABORS  OUT  OF  CONGRESS — THE  DEATH  OF  MRS. 
COLFAX — HER  ESTIMABLE  CHARACTER. 

PRESIDENT  MADISON,  it  is  said,  contemplated,  during 
the  war  of  1812,  making  Henry  Clay  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  American  armies,  but  refrained  from  doing  so 
because  other  branches  of  the  public  service  had  greater 
claims  upon  the  eminent  abilities  of  that  distinguished 
civilian.  Mr.  Colfax  would  have  been  glad  to  have 
entered  the  military  service  in  any  minor  capacity ;  but 
the  civil  service  had  a  higher  claim  upon  him.  He  had 
been  re-elected  a  member  of  Congress.  Upon  that 
body  would  now  devolve  such  duties  as  no  Congress 
had  ever  yet  been  called  upon  to  perform.  Upon  it 
would  rest  the  great  task  of  all  appropriate  legislation 
for  sustaining  the  administration  in  its  immense  respon 
sibility,  and  for  carrying  the  country  triumphantly 
through  the  great  and  perilous  war  in  which  it  was 
engaged.  The  country  was  now  in  greater  danger  of 
destruction  than  ever  before  in  its  history.  These  perils 
of  the  country,  and  these  duties  devolving  upon  Con 
gress,  made  it  imperative  upon  Mr.  Colfax  to  continue 
in  that  duty  to  which  the  people  had  called  him,  and  at 
that  post  where  they  had  placed  him.  In  the  Thirty  - 
seventh  Congress,  a  special  session  of  which  was  called 
to  meet  on  the  fourth  of  July,  he  bore  his  part  in  the 
legislation  which  gave  the  country  its  great  army  and 
navy,  placed  over  them  their  distinguished  commanders, 

and  furnished  from  the  resources  of  the  nation   the 
8 


1 34  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

immense  amount  of  means  the  Government  needed  for 
the  strengthening  of  those  two  great  arms  of  the  national 
defence.  Congress  was  not  where  the  crashing  thunder 
and  leaden  hail  of  the  battle  were  ;  neither  was  Congress 
the  hidden  spring  and  source  of  the  power  that,  under 
God,  saved  the  land.  That  hidden  spring  and  source  of 
power  was  in  the  unsearchable  and  illimitable  patriotism 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  Congress,  however,  was  the 
organizing  centre  of  that  power  which  was  in  the 
patriotism  of  the  people,  and  which,  under  God,  was  the 
salvation  of  the  country. 

But  the  labors  of  Mr.  Colfax  were  not  confined  to  his 
duties  in  Congress.  They  were  abundant  in  battling 
with  the  sentiments  that  would  have  settled  down  like 
a  deadly  choke-damp  upon  the  fires  of  patriotism  and 
quenched  them ;  that  would,  in  suicidal  policy,  have 
recalled  our  armies  from  the  camp  and  field,  and  granted 
the  leaders  of  the  rebellion  all  their  demands.  His 
eloquence  in  behalf  of  the  country  and  army,  like  a 
bugle  blast,  stirred  the  hearts  of  men.  His  untiring 
efforts  secured  several  regiments  for  the  field  from  his 
district.  At  the  time  when  his  re-election  was  pending, 
disaster  had  sapped  the  enthusiasm  of  army  and  people. 
"  Taking  the  district  rostrum,  he  passed  rapidly  around 
among  the  people  like  a  military  evangelist,  pleading  for 
freedom,  for  the  country,  and  for  the  army,  forgetful  of 
self,  and  solicitous  only  to  recruit  our  thinned  lines  of 
battle."  Friends,  believing  that  his  re-election  was 
more  valuable  to  the  country  than  the  regiments  sent 
out  of  his  district  at  that  time  could  be  to  the  army, 
remonstrated  with  him,  but  in  vain.  The  characteristic 
reply,  unstudied  for  effect,  because  made  in  private,  was, 
that  he  preferred  that  he,  not  our  brave  soldiers,  should 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

be  in  the  minority,  and  that  recruiting  should  go  briskly 
and  immediately  forward. 

In  July,  1863,  the  great  affliction  of  the  life  of  Mr. 
Col  fax  occurred — his  wife  died. 

Whilst  he  was  a  child  with  his  widowed  mother  in 
New  York,  he  was  taken  with  her  on  annual  visits  far 
up  the  Hudson  river,  into  the  region  of  Saratoga. 
There,  a  child,  he  had  met  another  child,  a  sweet  little 
girl,  younger  than  himself,  and  they  had  played  together 
in  the  glorious  summer-time,  amidst  the  flowers,  and 
under  the  trees,  and  upon  the  green  hills,  and  by  the 
crystal  springs  and  murmuring  brooks.  Year  after 
year  he  came  from  the  noisy  city  to  this  country-para 
dise,  and  met  the  sweet  little  girl  with  whom  he  loved 
to  play.  But  the  annual  visits  were  too  far  apart  for 
the  communication  of  the  thoughts  of  the  children,  and 
letter-writing  began  at  eight  years  of  age.  Those  visits 
and  those  letters  were  silken  ties  that  bound  two  hearts 
together.  The  tide  of  emigration  that  swept  one  of 
those  hearts  far  away  into  the  wild  woods  of  the  West 
severed  not  the  ties  that  bound  it  to  the  other.  Just 
before  he  had  established  himself  as  village  editor, 
Schuyler  Colfax,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  had  been 
married,  and  had  brought  to  his  home  in  the  West,  in 
the  person  of  a  beautiful  and  admired  woman,  the  little 
girl  with  whom  he  had  so  lovingly  played  in  the  glorious 
paradise  of  childhood. 

What  bright,  halcyon  days  were  those  of  the  village 
editor  in  his  new  home,  in  the  happy  society  of  his  wife, 
giving  himself  to  the  enjoyment  of  books  and  the  duties 
of  editorship.  Mrs.  Colfax  became  a  very  lovely,  de 
voted  Christian  woman.  She  was  at  Washington  with 
her  husband  for  a  number  of  years.  Her  Christian 


136  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

character  did  not  suffer  blight  from  the  power  of  the 
world.  It  grew  in  winning  loveliness,  in  tender  gentle 
ness  and  firm  consistency.  She  was  such  a  Christian 
woman  as  Admiral  Foote,  the  missionary  admiral,  as  he 
has  been  called,  who  knew  her  well,  said  could  be  ill 
spared  from  Washington.  For  eight  years  before  her 
death  she  was  an  invalid.  Her  husband's  devotedness  to 
her  was  unbounded.  Solicitude  in  watching  over  her, 
while  suffering  from  wasting  disease,  but  bound  her 
noble  husband  more  closely  to  her.  Death  came  ;  and 
although  it  had  been  long  expected,  because  for  a  long 
time  it  had  been  giving  signals  of  its  approach,  yet,  until 
it  came,  the  dreadfulness  and  desolation  of  its  coming 
had  not  been  dreamed  of. 

Mrs.  Evelyn  E.  Colfax  died  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island, 
July  10th,  1863,  and  was  buried  at  South  Bend,  Indiana. 
A  beautiful  monument  marks  her  grave.  The  inscrip 
tion  upon  it  characterizing  her  life  is  the  Scriptural 
truth,  "  The  path  of  the  just  shineth  more  and  more  unto 
the  perfect  day."  And  to  this  day,  ladies,  who  have 
not  forgotten  her  loveliness  and  worth,  keep  her  grave 
adorned  with  blooming  flowers  from  the  spring-time  to 
the  fall. 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  137 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

THE  THIRTY-EIGHTH  CONGRESS — MR.  COLFAX  ELECTED 
SPEAKER— THE  INAUGURATION — INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 
— OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

THE  Thirty-eighth  Congress  met  on  Monday,  Decem 
ber  7th,  1863.  The  House  was  promptly  organized  by 
the  election,  upon  the  first  ballot,  of  Mr.  Colfax  as 
Speaker.  The  whole  number  of  votes  cast  was  one 
hundred  and  eighty-one.  Of  these,  Mr.  Colfax  received 
one  hundred  and  one. 

Whitelaw  Ried,  Esq.,  Washington  correspondent  of 
the  Cincinnati  Gazette,  wrote  for  that  journal  the  follow 
ing  account  of  the  election  and  inauguration  of  the 
Speaker : 

"  There  is  a  moment  of  suspense  while  the  lists  are 
carefully  footed  up ;  the  tellers  —  Dawes,  Pendleton, 
Pomeroy  and  Wadsworth,  a  Yankee  Radical,  a  Cincin 
nati  Democrat,  a  Pennsylvania  Eepublican  and  a  Ken 
tucky  pro-slavery  Unionist — range  themselves  before 
the  Clerk's  desk,  and  Mr.  Pendleton  announces  that 
Colfax  has  one  hundred  and  one  votes,  Cox  forty-two, 
and  the  rest  scattering  down  to  two.  And  the  galleries 
cheer  again.  He  has  carried  every  vote  of  his  party  in 
the  House — there  is  not  a  bolter  or  a  dodger.  It  is  the 
sixth  time  in  his  political  career  he  has  had  just  such  a 
flattering  experience.  With  what  grace  he  may,  the 
Clerk  announces  that  '  Schuyler  Colfax,  one  of  the  Rep 
resentatives  from  the  State  of  Indiana,  having  received  a 
majority  of  the  votes  given,  is  duly  elected  Speaker  of 


138  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

the  House  of  Kepresentatives  for  the  Thirty-eighth  Con 
gress.'  And  the  galleries  cheer  again,  while  the  mem 
bers'  faces  are  wreathed  in  smiles,  and  there  is  a  general 
turning  to  the  medium-sized,  brown-bearded,  genial-faced 
man  in  the  midst  of  the  administration  members,  who 
has  been  avoiding  the  fire  of  gazes  from  spectators  by 
bending  over  a  roll-call. 

"In  a  moment,  at  the  Clerk's  appointment,  a  couple 
of  Democrats,  Dawson  and  Cox,  are  coming  over  from 
the  opposite  side  to  congratulate  the  Speaker  and  con 
duct  him  to  the  chair. 

"  And  then,  under  the  gaze  of  all  this  assemblage  of 
Place  and  Power,  there  walks  up  the  aisle,  to  take  the 
official  oath  of  the  third  executive  office  in  the  nation, 
the  son  of  a  poor  widow  of  New  York  city,  who  quit 
school  at  the  age  of  ten  years  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the 
West,  and  since  then,  thanks  to  the  training  of  the 
printing-office,  to  generous  talents  and  a  good  use  of 
them,  has  been  gradually  climbing,  climbing,  till  to-day 
he  stands  in  this  envied  position,  the  unanimous  choice 
of  his  party  for  the  place;  stands  where  the  Fathers 
who  first  gathered  in  our  national  Congress  placed 
Muhlenburg,  where  Henry  Clay  so  long  shed  dignity 
upon  the  position,  where,  in  later  years,  Bell  and  Polk 
and  Winthrop  and  Linn  Boyd  and  Banks  have  deemed 
it  high  honor  to  stand.  It  is  another  triumph  of  the 
best  feature  in  the  institutions  we  are  striving  to  pre 
serve. 

"  He  speaks  briefly,  gracefully,  patriotically ;  invokes 
their  remembrance  of  that  sacred  truth,  which  all  his 
tory  verifies,  that  they  who  rule  not  in  righteousness 
shall  perish  from  the  earth ;  and,  after  grateful  thanks, 
turns  to  take  the  solemn  oath  of  office,  which  Mr.  Wash- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  139 

burne  administers.  And  the  galleries  ring  again  with 
applause  as  he  takes  the  Speaker's  chair,  and  the  House 
no  longer  depends  on  Etheridge,  the  Clerk." 

The  following  was  the  inaugural  address  of  Mr. 
Colfax : 

"  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  ^REPRESENTATIVES  : 
To-day  will  be  marked  in  American  history  as  the 
opening  of  a  Congress  destined  to  face  and  settle  the 
most  important  questions  of  the  century,  and  during 
whose  existence  the  rebellion  which  has  passed  its  cul 
mination,  will,  beyond  question,  thanks  to  our  army, 
and  navy,  and  administration,  die  a  deserved  death. 
Not  only  will  your  constituents  watch  with  strict  scru 
tiny  your  deliberations  here,  but  the  friends  of  liberty, 
in  the  most  distant  lands,  will  be  interested  spectators  of 
your  acts  in  this  greater  than  Koman  forum.  I  invoke 
you  to  approach  these  grave  questions  with  the  calm 
thoughtfulness  of  statesmen,  freeing  yourselves  from 
that  acerbity  which  mars  instead  of  advancing  legislation, 
and  with  unshaken  reliance  on  that  Divine  power  which 
gave  victory  to  those  who  formed  this  Union,  and  can 
give  even  greater  victory  to  those  who  are  seeking  to 
save  it  from  destruction,  from  the  hand  of  the  parricide 
and  traitor.  I  invoke  you,  also,  to  remember  that  sacred 
truth  which  all  history  verifies,  that  '  they  who  rule  not 
in  righteousness  shall  perish  from  the  earth.' 

"  Thanking  you  with  a  grateful  heart  for  this  distin 
guished  mark  of  your  confidence  and  regard,  and  appeal 
ing  to  you  all  for  that  support  and  forbearance,  by  the 
aid  of  which  alone  I  can  hope  to  succeed,  I  am  now 
ready  to  take  the  oath  of  office  and  enter  upon  the  duties 
you  have  assigned  me." 


140  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

The  following  extracts  give  the  responses  of  the  press, 
both  Kepublican  and  Democratic,  to  the  election  of  Mr. 
Colfax  as  Speaker : 

"  It  is  probable  that  before  these  lines  fall  under  the 
reader's  eye,  the  Hon.  Schuyler  Colfax  will  have  been 
elected  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives.  No 
man  in  the  present  Congress  is  more  eminently  fitted 
than  he  to  fulfil  the  duties  of  that  responsible  position. 
One  of  the  most  experienced  members,  thoroughly  fami 
liar  with  the  rules  and  proceedings  of  the  House,  person 
ally  popular  with  both  parties  on  account  of  his  courtesy 
and  fairness,  and  bearing  an  unblemished  reputation  for 
political  integrity  and  devotion  to  the  great  principles 
which  underlie  our  Government,  he  will  take  his  seat 
with  the  general  acquiescence  of  the  body  over  which 
he  is  called  to  preside,  and  of  the  country  at  large.  It 
may  here  be  mentioned  as  an  interesting  fact,  that  the 
election  of  Mr.  Colfax  introduces  a  new  profession  into 
the  Speaker's  chair.  Hitherto,  if  our  memory  serves  us 
right,  the  Speakers  have  been  selected  from  the  legal 
profession.  Mr.  Colfax  is  not  a  lawyer,  but  an  editor  of 
untiring  industry  and  enterprise,  and  has  risen  to  his 
present  high  position  solely  on  his  merits.  The  country 
will  be  greatly  disappointed  if  he  does  not  prove  to  be  one 
of  the  best  presiding  officers  ever  elected  to  the  Speaker's 
chair." — New  York  Com.  Advertiser,  December  1th,  1863. 

"  The  first  day's  proceedings  of  Congress  give  a  touch 
of  its  quality  in  a  working  majority  for  the  radicals  in 
both  branches,  sufficient  for  all  practical  purposes.  The 
party  united  without  difficulty  on  Mr.  Colfax,  the  oppo 
sition  proving  to  be  of  no  account.  The  administration 
candidate  was  elected  on  the  first  ballot.  The  Speaker, 
for  a  wonder,  is  not  a  lawyer,  but  has  been  several  years 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  141 

an  able  journalist,  and  is  a  courteous  gentleman,  of 
strongly  radical  politics,  but  of  decision,  energy  and  in 
tegrity  of  character,  and  promises  to  make  an  impartial 
presiding  officer. 

"As  we  cannot  have  a  Democrat  for  Speaker  of  Con 
gress,  we  would  as  soon  see  Mr.  Colfax  in  the  chair  as 
any  Republican  in  the  House.  He  is  an  intelligent, 
active  working  man,  a  good  printer,  a  good  editor,  a 
good  citizen,  and  has  discharged  his  duty  conscientiously, 
we  have  no  doubt,  as  a  public  man.  We  hope  he  will 
be  treated  fairly  and  with  all  due  respect  in  his  new  and 
responsible  position,  and  that  the  proceedings  of  the 
present  Congress  will  be  distinguished  in  all  respects  by 
reason,  not  by  passion;  by  that  mutual  forbearance 
and  patriotic  motive  which  the  critical  condition 
of  the  country  requires  at  the  hands  of  its  faithful 
friends." — Boston  Post. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

PRESS  DINNEK  TO  MB.  COLFAX — SPEECH  OF  ME.  WILKE- 
SON — BESPONSE  OF  MB.  COLFAX. 

MB.  COLFAX  was  the  first  editor  ever  elected  to  the 
Speaker's  chair.  The  members  of  the  press,  in  honor 
of  the  event,  gave  to  him  a  public  dinner,  an  account 
of  which  was  thus  given  by  the  Washington  Chronicle: 

"  On  Saturday  evening  last  was  commemorated  in  our 
city  one  of  those  striking  events  which  are  the  boast  of 
our  Republican  institutions.  While  an  honest  rail- 


142  Life  of  Schuyler  Golf  ax. 

splitter  guides  the  destinies  of  the  Kepublic  in  this,  the 
grandest  ordeal  through  which  it  has  passed,  so  as  to 
command  the  hearty  respect  of  the  world  and  the 
honest  admiration  of  his  countrymen,  an  ex-editor  pre 
sides  over  the  deliberations  of  the  House  of  Kepresen- 
tatives — that  '  nobler  than  Koman  forum,'  with  an  ease 
of  manner,  a  delicacy  of  tact,  and  a  fulness  of  knowledge 
rarely  equalled  and  seldom  surpassed.  The  representa 
tives  of  the  press  rightly  judged  that  so  significant  an  event 
should  not  be  passed  over  unnoticed,  and  accordingly 
tendered  to  Mr.  Colfax  the  compliment  of  a  dinner  that 
was  to  embrace  only  those  connected  with  the  *  Fourth 
Estate.'  The  following  letter  was  therefore  addressed 
to  Mr.  Colfax : 

"'WASHINGTON  CITY,  December  19 to,  1863. 
" '  HON.  SCHUYLER  COLFAX, 

"  'Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : 

"'DEAR  SIR:  Appreciating  your  services  through  a 
long  course  of  public  life,  and  the  rare  qualities  of  heart 
and  mind  which  have  made  your  elevation  to  the  third 
executive  office  of  the  nation  seem  so  natural  and  fitting 
that  all  competitors  quietly  withdrew,  and  the  members 
of  your  party  put  you  in  nomination  by  acclamation,  the 
representatives  of  your  life-long  profession  now  at 
the  Capital  desire  to  mark  their  admiration  of  your 
private  and  public  virtues,  and  their  gratification  at 
your  being  called  to  preside  over  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  important  legislative  assemblages  in  the 
world. 

" '  We  beg,  therefore,  to  ask  your  presence  at  a  dinner 
to  be  given  in  honor  of  your  election,  at  Willard's 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  143 

Hotel,  this  evening,  at  seven  o'clock,  to  be  attended 
exclusively  by  the  members  of  the  press.7 

"The  distinguished  guest  and  his  entertainers  assem 
bled  in  due  time  in  one  of  the  parlors  at  Willard's. 
Shortly  before  eight  they  repaired  to  the  dining  room, 
where  was  set  out  a  table  resplendent  with  silver  and 
glass. 

"Samuel  Wilkeson,  of  the  New  York  Times,  pre 
sided,  and  made  the  opening  speech.  After  referring 
to  his  past  connection  with  both  the  Albany  Evening 
Journal  and  New  York  Tribune  as  editor,  and  describ 
ing  his  running  over  the  various  exchanges,  he  con 
cludes  : 

"  Going  rapidly  through  all  till  I  came  to  the  South 
Bend  Register.  That  paper  I  always  read,  both  on  the 
Tribune  and  on  the  Journal.  I  read  it  for  its  own  sake, 
for  it  was  wise,  it  was  honest,  it  was  well  made,  it  ever 
had  news.  'Twas  one  of  the  few  papers  in  America 
into  which  the  scissors  always  went,  or  which  always 
communicated  to  a  daily  political  writer  a  valuable 
political  impression.  And  I  read  the  South  Bend 
Register  for  another  reason,  wholly  peculiar  to  myself. 
Eighteen  years  ago,  at  one  o'clock  of  a  winter  moon 
light  morning,  while  the  horses  of  the  stage-coach  in 
which  I  was  plowing  the  thick  mud  of  Indiana  were 
being  changed  at  the  tavern  in  South  Bend,  I  walked 
the  footway  of  the  principal  street  to  shake  off  a  great 
weariness.  I  saw  a  light  through  a  window.  Assign, 
'  The  Register ,'  was  legible  above  it,  and  I  saw  through 
the  window  a  man  in  his  shirt  sleeves  walking  quickly 
about  like  one  that  worked.  I  paused,  and  looked,  and 
imagined  about  the  man,  and  about  his  work,  and  about 
the  lateness  of  the  hour  to  which  it  was  protracted  ;  and 


144  Life  of  Schuyler  Co  If  ax. 

I  wondered  if  tie  was  in  debt  and  was  struggling  to  get 
out,  and  if  his  wife  was  expecting  him  and  had  lighted 
a  new  candle  for  his  coming,  and  if  he  was  very  tired. 
A  coming  step  interrupted  this  idle  dreaming.  When 
the  walker  reached  my  side  I  joined  him,  and  as  we 
went  I  asked  him  questions,  and  naturally  they  were 
about  the  workman  in  the  shirt  sleeves.  '  What  sort  of 
a  man  is  he?'  '  He  is  very  good  to  the  poor ;  he  works 
hard  ;  he  is  sociable  with  all  people ;  he  pays  his  debts ; 
he  is  a  safe  adviser ;  he  doesn't  drink  whiskey ;  folks 
depend  on  him  ;  all  this  part  of  Indiana  believe  in  him.' 
From  that  day  to  this  I  have  never  taken  up  the  South 
Bend  Register  without  thinking  of  this  eulogy,  and 
envying  the  man  who  had  justly  entitled  himself  to  it 
in  the  dawn  of  his  manhood. 

"  That  man  when  twenty-five  years  old,  and  again  when 
twenty-nine  years  old,  was  sent  by  his  neighbors  to  the 
National  Presidential  Conventions — when  twenty-seven 
years  old  was  sent  by  his  neighbors  as  a  wise  political- 
reformer  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  Indiana — 
was  sent  by  the  same  neighbors  to  Congress  in  the  year 
1854,  and  kept  there  by  them  from  that  day  to  this.  On 
the  first  Monday  of  this  month  of  December,  the  Repub 
licans  of  the  House  of  Representatives  unanimously 
elected  him  the  Speaker  of  that  body. 

"  My  brothers,  you  think  you  know  the  secret  of  this 
uninterrupted  favor  of  a  constituency  to  a  representative 
— this  continued  regard  of  a  constituency  for  a  citizen 
— of  this  appreciation  of  a  statesman  by  statesmen.  You 
find  them  in  his  fidelity  to  principles — in  his  thorough 
attention  to  business — in  his  talents  for  legislation — in 
their  constant  and  useful  devotion  to  public  good.  The 
Congressional  Grlobe  and  the  traditional  and  written  his- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  145 

tory  of  Congress  are  full  of  the  evidences  of  these  vir 
tues,  and  of  this  fitness  for  public  trusts,  and  this  title 
to  honored  confidence.  But  you  don't  know  the  secret. 
I  do.  I  learned  it  by  chance.  I  got  possession  of  it  by 
an  unwitting  and  unwilling  eaves-dropping  in  the  parlor 
of  another  noble  man,  John  W.  Forney.  Eighteen 
years  after  my  midnight  watching  of  that  printer,  in  his 
shirt-sleeves,  at  his  solitary  labor,  I  heard  him  in  this 
city  utter  this,  his  philosophy  of  life  :  '  /  consider  that 
day  wasted  in  which  I  have  not  done  some  good  to  some 
human  being,  or  added  somewhat  to  somebody's  happiness? 
What  success  could  recede  from  that  man's  pursuit  ? 
nay,  what  success  would  not  pursue  that  man  and  for 
cibly  crown  him  with  honors  and  gratitude  ?  Schuyler 
Colfax,  editor  of  the  South  Bend  Register,  Congressman 
from  Indiana,  and  for  eleven  years  actor  of  a  philosophi 
cal  life  that  Socrates  might  have  envied,  you  cannot 
escape  the  love  of  your  fellow-man.  We  journalists  and 
men  of  the  newspaper  press  do  love  you,  and  claim  you 
as  bone  of  our  bone  and  flesh  of  our  flesh.  Fill  your 
glasses  all,  in  an  invocation  to  the  gods  for  long  life, 
greater  successes,  and  ever-increasing  happiness  to  our 
editorial  brother  in  the  Speaker's  chair." 

In  response  to  the  toast  of  the  President,  loud  calls 
being  made  for  Hon.  Schuyler  Colfax,  that  gentleman 
arose,  and  when  the  excitement  subsided,  spoke  as  fol 
lows: 

"  MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  PRESS  :  If 
the  events  of  the  first  Monday  of  December,  in  which  the 
American  Congress  saw  fit  to  take  the  editor  of  a  coun 
try  paper,  and  place  him  in  the  highest  chair  in  that 
dignified  and  deliberative  body,  shall  be  imprinted  upon 


146  Life  of  Schuyler  Co  If  ax. 

my  memory  until  the  hour  comes  that  I  am  to  be  gath 
ered  to  my  fathers — this  night,  when  by  your  invitation 
I  am  in  the  midst  of  my  brethren  of  the  press,  receiving 
at  your  hands  a  compliment  of  which  the  most  honored 
statesman  in  America  might  be  proud,  joined  in  as  it  is 
by  gentlemen  of  all  the  various  political  organizations 
of  the  day,  and  with  a  welcome  and  heart  greeting  that 
seem  to  me  must  be  sincere,  will  be  equally  imprinted 
upon  my  memory  while  life  shall  last.  And  as  if  to  in 
crease  this  obligation,  and  make  it  far  beyond  my  ability 
to  adequately  acknowledge,  I  have  had  to  listen  to-night 
to  an  eulogy  from  your  distinguished  chairman,  of  which 
I  can  only  wish  I  was  more  worthy.  What  he  has  said  has 
called  back  to  my  mind  what  is  often  before  it,  the  years 
of  my  early  manhood — and  I  see  a  friend  seated  at  this 
table,  Mr.  Defrees,  who  knows  much  of  it  about  as  well 
as  myself — when,  struggling  against  poverty  and  adverse 
fortunes  sometimes,  I  sought  in  the  profession  to  which 
you  have  devoted  yourselves,  to  earn  an  honest  liveli 
hood  for  myself  and  family,  and  a  position,  humble  but 
not  dishonored,  among  the  newspaper  men  of  America. 
I  cannot  remember  the  exact  evening  to  which  he  al 
ludes,  when;  a  stranger  then,  as  I  am  glad  he  is  not  now, 
he  saw  me  through  a  window  in  my  office,  with  the  mid 
night  lamp  before  me,  and  heard  the  commentary  on  my 
life  from  the  lips  of  some  too  partial  friend  amongst 
those  who,  from  my  boyhood,  have  surrounded  me  with 
so  much  kindness  and  affection.  But  well  do  I  remem 
ber,  in  the  early  history  of  the  newspaper  that  numbered 
but  two  hundred  and  fifty  subscribers  when  I  established 
it,  I  was  often  compelled  to  labor  far  into  the  hours  of 
night.  And  little  did  I  dream,  at  that  time,  I  was  ever 
to  be  a  member  of  the  American  Congress ;  and  far  less 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  147 

that  I  was  to  be  the  recipient  of  the  honor  whose  confer 
ment  you  commemorate  and  endorse  to-night.  I  can 
say  of  that  paper  that  its  columns,  from  its  very  first 
number,  will  bear  testimony  to-day  that  in  all  the  politi 
cal  canvasses  in  which  I  was  engaged,  I  never  avoided  a 
frank  and  outspoken  expression  of  opinion  on  any 
question  before  the  American  public ;  and  that,  as  these 
opinions  had  always  been  honestly  entertained,  I  hesitated 
not  to  frankly  and  manfully  avow  them. 

"Though  the  effect  of  these  avowals  was,  from  the 
political  complexion  of  the  district  and  the  State,  to 
keep  me  in  a  minority,  the  people  among  whom  I  live 
will  bear  testimony  that  I  was  no  less  faithful  to  them 
then,  than  I  have  been  when,  in  later  years,  that  mi 
nority  has,  by  the  course  of  events,  been  changed  into  a 
majority.  (Applause.) 

"  In  the  midst  of  all  these  festivities  and  honors,  my 
friends,  my  heart  turns  warmly  to-night  towards  the 
life-long  friends  at  home ;  and  I  feel,  indeed,  that  there 
is  no  man  in  the  American  Congress  who  has  a  constit 
uency  of  which  he  has  a  greater  right  to  be  proud  than 
I  have  of  mine.  With  a  generous  forbearance  to  all 
my  shortcomings,  overlooking  all  deficiencies,  they  have 
sustained  me  ever  with  the  unseen  but  magnetic  power 
of  their  hearts,  and  strengthened  me  with  their  hands  in 
all  the  contests  and  canvasses  of  the  past ;  and  I  shall 
go  back,  at  the  end  of  this  Congress,  to  the  private  life 
to  which  I  expect  to  retire,  to  live  and  die  in  the  midst 
of  those  I  love  so  faithfull^  and  so  well. 

"  I  have  been  glad  to  meet  you  here  to-night,  and  I 
am  glad  that,  notwithstanding  our  varied  and  antago 
nizing  political  shades  of  opinion,  we  can  thus  sit  down 
together  in  social  harmony.  We  know  there  is  to  be  a 


148  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

day  coming  when  the  '  lion  and  the  lamb  shall  lie  down 
together.'  Some  doubting  Thomases  think  this  will  only 
be  realized  by  the  lamb  being,  at  the  time,  inside  of  the 
lion.  But,  politically,  the  prophecy  seems  almost  veri 
fied  to-night. 

"I  cannot  avoid  saying  a  few  words  in  relation  to  the 
profession  to  which  we  have  devoted  our  lives.  I  think 
you  cannot  but  acknowledge  that  the  American  Congress 
has  not  overlooked  the  press.  Not  only  have  they  seen 
fit,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  Congress,  to  select 
an  editor  for  the  grave  responsibilities  which  cluster 
around  their  presiding  officer,  but  from  the  ranks  of  the 
same  profession  they  have  taken  a  gentleman  for  the 
next  office  in  order,  the  Clerk  of  the  House,  and  one 
whom  with  a  modesty  equal  to  his  worth,  I  see  blushes 
as  I  allude  to  him,  (Mr.  McPherson.)  And  besides  these, 
we  have  also  in  the  American  Congress  another  gentle 
man,  a  printer,  acting  as  postmaster  of  the  House.  Hav 
ing  thus  generously  given  a  majority  of  all  offices  to  the 
press,  they  have  magnanimously  allowed  'the  rest  of 
mankind'  to  take  the  remaining  two  offices.  (Laughter 
and  applause.)  In  the  other  branch  of  Congress,  we 
have  as  Clerk  of  the  Senate,  John  W.  Forney,  one  of 
the  most  gifted  and  distinguished  journalists  of  our 
times.  The  Yice-President  of  the  United  States,  also, 
was  a  newspaper  man,  and  I  doubt  not  a  good  one. 
And  so,  also,  was  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  of  the  Senate, 
Mr.  Brown,  of  Illinois.  And  if  President  Lincoln 
was  not  himself  directly  connected  with  the  press,  I 
think  we  can  bear  testimony  to  the  fact  of  his  having 
furnished  material  for  innumerable  editorials  in  its 
columns.  (Laughter.) 

"  You  do  not  expect  me  to  make  an  elaborate  after- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  149 

dinner  speech  to-night,  because  the  usage  of  a  Speaker 
is  not  to  make  speeches,  but  to  listen  to  them,  and  I  ex 
pect  to  have  considerable  of  that  latter  duty  to  perform 
during  the  eventful  Congress  just  opening.  A  few 
words  before  I  sit  down  in  regard  to  our  profession. 
Next  to  the  sacred  desk  and  those  who  minister  in  it 
there  is  no  profession  more  responsible  than  yours. 

"  The  editor  cannot  wait  like  the  politician  to  see  the 
set  of  the  tide,  but  is  required,  as  new  necessities  arise, 
not  only  to  avow  at  once  his  sentiments  upon  them,  but 
to  discuss  them  intelligently  and  instructively.  It  is 
also  his  duty  to  guide  and  direct  public  opinion  in  the 
proper  channels,  and  to  lay  before  the  readers  of  his 
sheet  such  matters  as  shall  tend  to  the  elevation  of 
their  character.  I  have  sometimes  thought  that  news 
papers  in  their  sphere  might  be  compared  to  that  ex 
quisite  mechanism  of  the  universe,  whereby  the  moisture 
is  lifted  from  the  earth,  condensed  into  clouds,  and  poured 
back  again  in  refreshing  and  fertilizing  showers  to  bless 
the  husbandman,  and  produce  the  abundant  harvests. 
So,  with  the  representatives  of  the  press,  they  draw  from 
public  opinion,  condense  from  public  opinion,  and  finally 
reflect  and  re-distribute  it  back  again  in  turn  to  its  eleva 
tion  and  purification.  (Applause.)  I  think  the  American 
press,  in  the  main,  performs  that  duty  faithfully  and 
well.  We  can  compare  it  with  the  press  of  any  other 
land,  and  that,  too,  without  blushing  at  the  comparison. 
I  need  not  say  to  you,  my  friends,  that  the  press  is  a 
power  in  the  land.  Contrast  the  press  to-day  with  what 
it  was  a  century  ago,  or  even  but  thirty  years  ago,  and 
you  will  see  how  wonderful  has  been  its  onward  march 
and  power.  But,  with  these  responsibilities,  come  upon 


150  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

you  grave  duties — duties  not  only  to  yourselves,  but  to 
all  your  fellow- men. 

"  I  speak  first  of  the  duty  of  every  representative  of 
the  American  press  to  elevate  its  character.  Wranglers 
and  libellers  amongst  you  not  only  dishonor  themselves 
but  the  entire  profession. 

"  It  is  a  duty  you  owe  also  to  yourselves  and  to  man 
kind  that  your  sheets  should  go  pure  from  alloy  into 
the  family  circle,  where  they  are  pondered  over  by  the 
gray-haired  grandfather  as  well  as  the  young  child  just 
able  to  spell  out  the  words  you  have  woven  into  edi 
torials.  If  my  theory  of  life  is  true,  an  accidental  allu 
sion  to  which  one  morning  caught  the  ear  of  your  Presi 
dent,  and  has  been  commented  on  by  him,  but  which  I 
come  far  short  of  living  up  to  myself,  that  the  highest 
personal  duty  is  to  seek  to  make  those  around  you 
happier,  how  important  is  the  point  to  which  I  have  just 
alluded.  Your  papers,  when  marred  by  personal  abuse, 
will  sadden  instead  of  gladden  your  readers,  and  become 
intruders  at  any  hearth-stone  where  sunshine  is  desirable, 
instead  of  being  welcome  visitors. 

"In  the  second  place,  there  is  another  grand  duty 
devolved  upon  the  press.  It  is  the  fostering  and  develop 
ment  of  the  patriotism  which  has  been  illustrated  in  so 
marked  a  degree  in  the  crisis  through  which  we  are 
now  passing.  It  is  the  invocations  of  the  press  going 
home  to  the  hearts  of  the  people,  which  have  caused 
them  to  go  forth  and  bare  their  breasts  to  the  bullets 
of  the  enemy  in  defence  of  the  integrity  and  perpetuity 
of  this  Union.  It  is  the  press  that  has  elicited  this 
marked  development  of  the  principles  of  humanity  in 
our  great  struggle. 

"You  see  this  development  of  principle  in  the  re- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  1 5 1 

iterated  repetition  of  the  acts  of  the  good  Samaritans, 
even  to  our  wounded  enemies,  in  the  swelling  stream  of 
treasure  that  pours  into  the  coffers  of  the  Sanitary  and 
Christian  Commissions,  and  in  the  relief  proffered  with 
out  stint  to  our  distressed  prisoners  at  Richmond,  com 
ing  from  our  people  all  over  the  land.  And  this  is 
because  the  invocations  of  the  press  have  been  listened 
to  and  responded  to  at  the  hearth-stones  of  the  American 
people.  So  also  is  the  development  of  manly  patriotism. 
We  have  all  read  in  our  childhood  of  the  injunction  of 
the  Spartan  mother  to  her  son,  on  going  out  to  battle, 
'  Come  back  with  your  shield,  or  upon  it ;'  and  have 
there  not  been  words  of  similar  import  uttered  by  thou 
sands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  people  through  all  the 
loyal  States  during  the  war  in  which  we  were  engaged  ? 
We  have  seen  mothers  sending  out  their  first-born,  who 
could  have  said,  like  the  lad  in  the  olden  time,  'My 
sword  is  too  short.7  And  have  not  these  same  mothers 
acted  in  the  spirit  of  the  famous  reply,  '  Add  a  step  to 
it,  and  it  will  be  long  enough.'  And  thus  the  young 
and  dearly  cherished  have  gone  from  family  and  from 
home,  even  when  scarcely  matured,  to  endure  the  pri 
vations  of  the  camp  and  field,  because  their  country  was 
in  danger,  and  they  could  die  to  save  it. 

"For  much  of  this  ennobling  patriotism,  for  these 
marked  developments  of  humanity,  I  bless  to-night 
the  American  press.  [Applause.] 

"  And,  again,  you  have  another  duty  to  perform.  It 
is  the  inculcation  of  morality  among  that  large  circle  of 
people  you  thus  reach.  If  the  fountain  is  poisoned,  the 
water  that  flows  from  it  shall  be  poisoned  too ;  and  those 
that  drink  of  that  water  will  have  poison  in  their  veins 
instead  of  the  pure  blood  that  gives  health  and  strength. 


152  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

It  is  your  duty  to  see  that  not  by  your  aid  shall  these 
poisons  reach  your  patrons,  to  spread  moral  miasma 
within  the  circle  of  your  influences.  Having  thus,  at 
greater  length  than  I  intended,  alluded  to  the  duties 
devolved  upon  us  as  journalists,  I  must  again,  before  I 
resume  my  seat,  warmly  and  gratefully  thank  you  for 
your  kindness  manifested  to  me  here.  This  night  shall 
be  marked  with  a  white  stone  in  the  history  of  my 
life.  And  as  I  look  back,  in  the  days  that  are  to  come, 
if  God  spares  my  life,  I  shall  never  forget  these  hours  we 
have  so  happily  passed  together. 

"For  the  great  honor  you  have  done  me  to-night,  for 
such  a  reception  as  you  have  given  me,  I  feel,  with  the 
Irish  orator,  like  saying,  '  My  heart  would  shake  hands 
with  all  of  you.*  [Laughter  and  applause.]  And  I  beg 
leave  to  give  you  a  sentiment  as  a  platform  on  which  all 
of  us  can  safely  stand : 

"THE  AMERICAN  PRESS:  If  inspired  by  patriotism, 
morality,  and  humanity,  it  cannot  fail  to  develop  a  con 
stantly  increasing  vigor,  power,  and  consequent  inde 
pendence."  [Loud  and  continued  applause.] 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co  If  ax.  153 


CHAPTER    XVIII 

KINDNESS  OF  MR.  COLF AX— HOMILY  FOR  THE  THOUGHT 
FUL — OBLIGATIONS  OF  JOURNALISTS — USE  OF  EXPERI 
ENCE —  SOCIAL  DUTIES  —  INCIDENT  FROM  ARNOLD'S 
"  LINCOLN  AND  SLAVERY  " — LASTING  FRIENDSHIP. 

MR.  WILKESON,  in  his  speech  at  the  rt  Press  Dinner," 
speaks  of  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Colfax.  It  is  a  character 
istic  of  his  nature.  Kindness,  gentleness  and  abounding 
benevolence  he  has  abundantly  exemplified,  and  often 
warmly  and  eloquently  advocated.  A  Homily  for  the 
Thoughtful,  written  early  in  his  editorial  life,  and  win- 
ningly  persuasive  of  excellent  things,  was  but  a  key 
note  of  what  has  pervaded  his  whole  career.  It  is  here 
given  as  a  specimen  of  what,  besides  that  which  was 
political,  found  its  way  into  the  editorial  columns  of 
the  Register: 

A  HOMILY  FOR  THE  THOUGHTFUL. 

"The  public  journalist,  who,  with  his  single  pen, 
writes  to  his  hundreds  or  thousands  of  readers,  who 
does  not  sometimes,  at  least,  point  their  attention  and 
direct  their  thoughts  to  social  as  well  as  political  duties 
and  responsibilities,  fails  to  fill  up  the  sphere  of  his 
vocation — neglects  one  of  his  most  palpable  and  impera 
tive  obligations.  We  have  preferred  waiting  until  this, 
the  last  month  of  winter's  reign — which,  if  the  analogy 
of  the  seasons  with  the  eras  of  actual  life  is  as  marked 
and  as  instructive  as  we  think  it  is,  should  be  the  last 
month  of  the  year — to  ask  a  moment's  attention  to  themes, 
which  none  will  say  are  hackneyed  in  our  columns. 


1 54  Life  tf  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"  We  live  but  vainly,  idly,  uselessly,  if  the  lessons  of 
the  past  fail  to  make  us  wiser.  We  live,  not  like  reason 
ing,  intelligent  beings,  if  we  draw  a  thick  veil  over  that 
portion  of  our  life,  which  is  beyond  our  reach,  and  thus 
prevent  the  light  of  its  experience  from  illumining  the 
yet  untrodden  pathway  of  the  future.  Bach  beat  of  our 
pulse — each  throbbing  of  our  heart — brings  us  nearer  to 
the  grave.  And,  though  sects  may  differ  as  to  its  reali 
ties,  each  night  that  passes  away  in  its  dream  of  forget- 
fulness,  leaves  us  one  day  less  of  our  span  of  being — and 
hurries  us  forward,  towards  that  innumerable  company 
that  have  passed  away  from  earth's  busy  scenes  forever. 
We  proffer,  therefore,  no  apology  to  any,  for  striving 
to  direct,  if  possible,  a  moment's  thought  upon  a  few  of 
the  social  duties  which,  as  responsible  beings,  we  owe 
to  the  community  in  which  we  dwell. 

"  How  many  of  those  whose  eyes  are  glancing  over 
these  sentences  have  made  the  world  happier  for  their 
presence  in  the  last  twelvemonth  ?  Whose  woes  have 
you  alleviated?  Whose  miseries  have  you  soothed? 
Whose  hard  and  rigorous  lot  have  you  softened? 
Whose  sick-bed  have  you  attended  ?  Whose  sufferings 
have  you  mitigated?  Cast  your  thoughts  backward, 
and  pause  as  faithful  memory  presents  to  you  her  tab 
lets.  Are  they  all  blank  ?  Is  there  not  one  tear  dried 
up — one  heart  made  happier,  to  redeem  them  from  their 
vacant  nothingness  ?  If  so,  heed  the  counsels  and  pledge 
the  resolves  that  the  still,  small  voice  within  commends, 
at  this  moment,  for  your  adoption.  The  busy  cares  of 
life — the  toils  of  traffic  and  of  business — too  often  cause 
us  all  to  forget  and  neglect  these  duties.  But  they  are 
duties  and  obligations  still,  which  can  neither  be  denied 
or  evaded.  The  glittering  stars  that  gem  the  firmament 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  155 

at  night  still  shine  above  us  when  the  sun  rides  high  in 
the  heavens ;  and  though  his  glare  obscures  them  from 
our  view,  they  are  still  there  as  brilliant  and  as  numer 
ous  as  ever.  So  it  is  with  our  duties.  Though  obscured 
or  hidden  by  the  press  of  business,  the  toils  of  life,  or 
the  burthen  of  domestic  cares,  still,  if  we  would  turn  our 
thoughts  and  eyes  upon  our  hearts — if  we  would  dissi 
pate  the  clouds  that  darken  our  consciences,  we  would 
see  these  obligations  as  clearly  as  we  can  discern  the 
constellations  of  heaven  when  they  gladden  our  vision 
with  their  undimmed  brilliancy.  He  who  has  realized 
in  his  heart,  as  well  as  in  his  judgment,  that  we  are  sent 
here  together — the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  learned  and 
the  unlearned,  the  noble  and  the  humble — not  as  cum- 
berers  of  the  earth,  but  as  bearers  of  each  other's  bur 
dens,  has  learned  one  of  the  great  truths  of  life. 

"  Have  you  been  just  to  all  men  ?  Not  honest  only 
— not  upright  only — but  JUST  in  the  widest  and  fullest 
acceptance  of  the  word.  Art  thou  wealthy,  and  hast 
thou  acted  the  miser  ?  The  poorest  man  on  earth  is  a 
more  valued  citizen.  If  there  is  one  who  reads  this, 
whose  pattern  and  whose  model  is  a  Shylock — who  has 
oppressed  the  hireling  in  his  wages — who  has  laid  a 
heavy  hand  upon  the  honest,  but  impoverished  debtor 
— the  earth  is  not  happier  for  his  presence.  If  there  is 
one  whose  impulses  of  humanity  have  been  petrified 
by  the  lust  for  gold,  whose  generosity  has  dried  up  into 
avarice,  and  who  knows  from  hearsay  only  and  not 
from  experience,  that  charity  twice  blesses — blessing 
both  him  that  gives  and  him  that  takes — the  earth  is 
not  happier  for  his  presence.  But  to  turn  the  subject 
into  the  channel  of  business  life,  the  man  who  takes 
advantage  of  his  creditor's  forgetfulness,  has  not  been 


156  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

'just  to  all  men.'  The  debtor  who  glances  over  a  bill  of 
his  indebtedness  and  rejoices  secretly  to  find  some  charge 
omitted,  may  wear  the  garb  of  honesty,  but  he  is  not 
just,  not  upright.     He  who  forgets  or  neglects  his  obli 
gations,  forgets  the  claims  of  justice.    Need  we  point  out 
an   instance?     When  sickness  comes  with  paralyzing 
h.and — when   fever's   scorching    heats  are  felt,  whose 
;  footsteps  at  the  door  sound  most  welcome  ?     When 
some  loved  relative  lies  in  the  very  crisis  of  disease, 
how  anxiously  is  the  face  of  the  physician  scanned — 
how  every  word  that  falls  from  his  lips  is  caught  at — 
how  every  hope  hangs  upon  his  counsel,  and  how  you 
strive  to  look  through  his  expressive  eyes,  the  windows 
of  the  soul,  to  read  his  secret  thoughts.      When  life 
trembles  in  the  balance,  how  hushed  is  every  sound  as 
he  keeps  his  vigils  by  the  bedside,  and  labors  with  pro 
fessional  skill,  that  has  cost  him  years  of  study  and  re 
flection,  to  preserve  the  soul  and  body,  mind  and  matter, 
in  their   mysterious   companionship.    And   yet,  when 
health  comes   back,  when  the   cheek  again  feels  the 
warmth   of  life,  when   the   nerves   and   sinews   again 
become  obedient  servants  to  their  master,  how  often, 
nay,  how  almost  universally,  is  the  pilot  who  brought 
the  patient  safely  through  the  stormy  conflict  of  Life 
with  Death  forgotten,  until  the  hour  of  peril  and  of 
pain  again  calls  him  to  duty?     Habit,  'tis  true,  may 
palliate,  but  it  cannot  vindicate  such  injustice.    Though 
now  last  paid  of  all.  other  debts,  he  who  is  the  guardian 
of  your  life,  the  protector  of  your  health,  should,  after 
your  Creator,  receive  the   first   fruits  of  your   labor. 
Have  you  heard   your  neighbor  slandered,  when  his 
absence  gave  license  to  his  slanderers,  and  have  you 
failed  to  perform  that  most  grateful  of  all  duties,  the 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  157 

vindication  of  a  friend's  fair  fame  and  character? 
Have  you  suffered  your  tongue  to  blacken  the  reputa 
tion  of  some  female  ?  Have  you  indulged  in  dark  and 
covert  insinuations — in  half-expressed  slanders — upon 
one  of  a  sex  who  should  receive  the  protection  and 
love,  instead  of  incurring  the  hate  and  hostility  of  man  ? 
Then  indeed  you  have  not  been  just. 

"Have  you  warned  your  fellow-men  from  error's 
path?  Warned  them,  we  mean,  by  example  as  well  as 
precept  ?  You  see  around  you  intemperance  upon  the 
increase.  You  see  your  neighbor,  your  brother- man, 
yielding  to  its  temptations.  You  see  the  strong  bands 
of  habit  encircling  him — the  chains  riveting  upon  his 
limbs.  And  do  you  pause  and  hesitate  to  utter  that 
word  of  kind  entreaty  which  may  draw  him  back  from 
the  yawning  chasm  before  him  ?  Grant,  if  you  please, 
that  your  unselfish  appeals  are  answered  only  by  curses 
and  by  sneers ;  and  yet  the  duty  is  a  duty  still — more 
imminent,  more  imperative,  as  the  danger  is  more 
threatening.  Whether  clothed  in  costly  raiment  or  in 
rags,  he  is  your  neighbor  and  your  brother.  Formed 
as  he  is  by  the  same  Creator,  bearing  the  same  impress 
upon  his  brow,  can  you  suffer  him  to  go  on  in  his  mad 
career,  unwarned  of  the  rayless  gloom  and  comfortless 
despair  that  clouds  and  embitters  the  last  hours  of  the 
wretched  inebriate  ?  Dare  you  follow  in  the  footsteps  of 
the  marked  man,  Cain,  who  insultingly  asked,  'Am  I 
my  brother's  keeper  ?'  He  who  suffers  a  fellow-man  to 
plunge  unwarned  into  the  abyss  of  ruin  is  equally 
guilty  with  the  heartless  being  who  could  suffer  a  blind 
man  to  stalk  on  until  he  stumbles  from  the  brink  of  a 
precipice  upon  the  sharp  and  jutting  rocks  below. 

"The  subject  opens  and  widens  before  us,  but  we 


158  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

have  exceeded  the  space  for  it  and  must  break  off.  "We 
leave  the  thoughts  hurriedly  glanced  at  for  the  calm 
consideration  of  those  who  think — for  action,  too,  as 
well  as  thought.  With  all  others,  they  will  of  course 
.pass  as  the  water  through  the  sieve,  leaving  no  trace 
'behind." 

To  the  practical  exhibitions  of  this  genial  benevolence, 
Mr.  Arnold,  in  his  book  on  "Lincoln  and  Slavery," 
refers :  "  The  following  incident  is  so  characteristic  of 
Speaker  Colfax,  and  so  well  illustrates  that  goodness 
of  heart  and  sweetness  of  disposition  for  which  he  is 
distinguished,  that,  although  perhaps  out  of  place  here, 
I  cannot  omit  it.  The  last  days  of  the  session  were,  as 
such  days  always  are,  full  of  cares  and  perplexities, 
every  thing  and  everybody  hurried  and  impatient ;  yet, 
through  all,  Colfax  retained  his  amiability.  On  the  last 
night  of  the  session,  when  going  into  the  Speaker's  room, 
I  saw  a  basket  of  most  beautiful  flowers  marked,  '  Mrs. 
@.,  with  kind  regards  of  Mr.  Coif  ax.'  This  lady  was 
the  wife  of  an  officer  of  the  House,  and  was  very  ill. 
This  kind  consideration,  that  did  not  forget  the  wife  of 
a  subordinate,  even  in  that  last  hurried  night  of  the 
session,  shows  an  unselfish  heart,  somewhat  too  rare 
among  politicians." 

The  following  incident,  occurring  several  years  ago, 
narrated  and  published  by  the  president  of  a  literary 
institution  at  Valparaiso,  in  Northern  Indiana,  is  also 
illustrative  of  the  character  of  Mr.  Colfax : 

"  As  we  stepped  into  the  Bank  yesterday,  we  noticed 
lying  on  the  counter  a  large  and  splendid  photograph  of 
our  noble  representative,  Speaker  Colfax.  It  is  the 
most  life-like  picture  that  we  have  ever  seen  of  this 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  159 

honored  statesman.  But  our  attention  was  particularly 
attracted  to  the  bold  and  easy  autograph  of  the  Speaker, 
running  thus :  '  To  Mark  L.  McClelland,  from  his  life 
long  friend,  Schuyler  Colfax.'  We  casually  remarked 
to  our  worthy  citizen,  McClelland,  that  that  autograph, 
so  cordial,  was  a  testimonial  of  personal  regard  of  which 
any  man  in  the  nation  might  well  be  proud.  Mr.  M. 
raised  his  ever-busy  pen  from  the  bank  ledger,  and 
with  evident  emotion  said :  '  That  is  just  like  Schuyler. 
We  were  playmates  and  debating- school  friends  in  our 
boyhood,  grew  up  together,  he  as  an  editor,  and  I  as 
a  tanner.  But  our  different  vocations  produced  no 
estrangement.  We  usually  spent  our  leisure  hours 
together.  But  soon  his  industry  and  talents  began  to 
attract  attention,  and  no  one  rejoiced  more  in  his  prefer 
ment  than  I.  His  reputation  soon  became  national, 
while  I  have  ever  plodded  on  in  private ;  but  in  all  this 
disparity  I  have  ever  found  in  him  a  steadfast,  generous 
friend.  From  a  sense  of  delicacy,  our  correspondence 
would  have  stopped  years  ago,  had  it  depended  on  me ; 
for  I  have  ever  felt  his  superiority,  and  felt  that  I  might 
be  obtrusive,  as  I  knew  that  the  multiplicity  of  his 
engagements  and  his  official  duties  must  occupy  his  whole 
time ;  and  that  he  must  find  in  his  extensive  acquaintance 
hundreds  more  worthy  of  his  attention  than  I;  but  he 
still  corresponds  with  me,  advising  me  of  his  plans  as 
fully  and  freely  as  when  we  were  both  poor  boys.  It  is 
a  wonder,'  said  Mr.  M.,  'and  that  reminds  me  of  a  little 
occurrence  in  a  stage-coach,  years  ago.  We  accidentally 
met  as  we  were  both  going  to  Indianapolis — he  to  confer 
with  the  magnates  of  the  State  on  the  grave  matters  of 
the  nation,  I  to  do  some  private  business.  As  usual 
the  conversation  turned  on  the  scenes  and  events  of  our 


160  Life  of  Schuyler  Colfax. 

boyhood.  "While  we  were  chatting  over  these  matters, 
I  could  not  realize  that  I  was  in  genial  communion  with 
the  third  man  in  the  nation.  I  at  once  fell  into  moody 
musings  on  this  strange  transition  from  a  playful  boy  to 
the  sagacious  statesman.  I  was  thinking  of  his  stead 
fast  friendship,  and  was  finally  roused  from  my  reverie 
by  Mr.  Colfax  playfully  placing  his  hand  on  my  knee, 
with  the  smiling  question,  '  What  now,  Mark ?'  'I  was 
thinking,'  said  I,  '  how  strange  it  is,  in  all  your  prefer 
ment,  that,  surrounded  as  you  are  daily  with  scores  of 
men  whose  position,  influence  and  profession  would 
necessarily  seem  to  supplant  me  in  your  regards,  that 
you  still  seem  to  retain  for  me  the  same  fervor  of  friend 
ship  that  you  did  when  a  boy.'  Grasping  my  hand 
warmly,  he  replied,  'No  marvel  at  all,  Mark.  Your 
friendship  I  know  to  be  sincere,  for  it  sprung  up  when 
both  of  us  were  boys,  in  poverty  and  obscurity,  and 
neither  of  us  could  possibly  anticipate  the  future.' 

"  This  little  incident  gives  us  a  clue  to  the  head  and 
heart  of  Mr.  Colfax.  It  is  a  key  to  his  inner  life.  It 
discloses  to  us,  without  reserve,  the  generous  impulses, 
the  unswerving  fidelity,  the  genial  nature,  and  the  uner 
ring  sagacity  of  this  noble  man.  Amid  all  his  honors, 
he  has  lost  nothing  of  his  child-like  simplicity,  his  Chris 
tian  integrity,  his  patriotic  faith. 

"  Schuyler  Colfax  is  one  of  the  few  of  our  national 
dignitaries  who  ever  carries  both  the  head  of  a  man  and 
the  true  heart  of  a  guileless  boy.  Such  a  man  can  never 
be  corrupted,  even  by  the  wiles  of  politics. 

"  Though  this  little  incident  was  not  designed  for  a 
newspaper  paragraph,  yet,  as  it  is  so  illustrative  of  the 
high-toned  nature  of  Mr.  Colfax,  we  trust  our  neighbor 
McClelland  will  pardon  us  for  giving  it  publicity." 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  161 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

LECTURE — EDUCATION  OF  THE  HEART — THE  TEACHER'S 
VOCATION  —  ELEMENTS  OF  WORTH  IN  CHARACTER — 
ELOQUENT  PLEA  FOR  THINGS  PURE  AND  GOOD. 

A  LECTURE  by  Mr.  Colfax,  entitled  "Education  of  the 
Heart,"  delivered  at  the  commencement  exercises  of 
Aurora  (Illinois)  Seminary,  June,  1867,  is  a  plea  for 
things  pure  and  excellent,  and  of  good  report,  which  re 
flects  features  of  his  own  character,  and  makes  us  more 
familiar  with  his  worth.  In  the  principles  and  practices 
it  so  eloquently  advocates,  it  is  but  an  expression  in 
words  of  that  which  has  governed  him  in  his  career. 
This  lecture  has  received  high  commendation  from  such 
men  as  ex"-Governor  Boutwell,  of  Massachusetts,  who 
was  also  at  one  time  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 
in  that  State.  It  has  been  widely  circulated  in  this 
country,  and  has  been  reprinted  in  pamphlet  form  in 
England : 

EDUCATION  OF  THE  HEART. 

"In  all  the  realm  of  animated  nature  there  is  nothing 
so  absolutely  helpless  as  a  child  when  it  first  opens  its 
eyes  upon  the  world.  And  yet  there  i-s  nothing  of  vaster 
importance.  The  greatest  works  of  art  will  perish.  The 
cataract  of  Niagara  will  cease  to  flow.  The  proudest 
nation,  whose  conquering  eagles  have  defied  a  continent, 
will  pass  away.  But  the  sleeping  infant,  in  its  mother's 
arms,  enshrines  a  soul  that  shall  live,  in  joy  or  misery, 
throughout  the  countless  ages  of  eternity;  and  may  even, 
in  its  brief  span  of  earthly  years,  like  Moses,  David, 


1 62  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

or  Paul;  or  Homer,  Plato,  or  Demosthenes;  or  Csesar, 
Washington,  or  Lincoln;  or  Zenobia,  Joan  of  Arc,  or 
Florence  Nightingale,  so  live  that  history  shall  never  tire 
of  the  record  of  its  deeds  while  time  doth  last  or  this 
earth  of  ours  endure. 

"  We  come,  too,  into  this  breathing  world  with  good 
and  evil  mysteriously  combined  within  us.  Our  souls 
are  immortal,  and  we  are  created  in  the  image  of  God. 
But  a  little  time,  comparatively,  passes  by  before  the 
child  develops  temper,  self-will,  defiance,  anger,  revenge, 
in  a  greater  or  milder  degree,  and  compels  that  parental 
restraint  so  valuable  and  necessary  in  every  household. 
And  thus  the  spirit  of  Good  and  the  spirit  of  Evil  strug 
gle  for  the  mastery  in  every  heart.  With  every  good 
impulse  drawing  us  toward  the  right,  and  every  wicked 
temptation  and  unrestrained  passion  drawing  us  toward 
the  wrong,  we  commence  the  earnest,  ceaseless  battle  for 
life. 

"  'Our  birth  is  but  a  starting-place, 
Life  is  the  running  of  the  race, 
And  death  the  goal.' 

"  Properly  trained,  conscientiously  directed,  the  child 
grows  up  into  the  affectionate,  enlightened,  energetic, 
self-denying  man  or  woman,  an  honor  and  a  blessing  to 
the  community,  loved  while  living,  and  when  life's  fitful 
fever  is  over,  remembered  by  many  hearts  long  after  the 
funeral  flowers  of  the  cemetery  have  blossomed  on  their 
grave.  But  how  different  his  life  and  character,  who, 
unblessed  by  healthful  and  virtuous  surroundings,  or 
madly  defying  them  all,  cultivates  only  the  evil  side 
of  his  nature  1  Like  the  rank  weed  of  your  garden,  it 
soon  extirpates  all  that  is  good  and  valuable ;  and  you 


Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax.  163 

see  before  you  a  life,  of  which  you  cannot  truthfully  say 
that  it  is  worthless,  because  it  is  far  worse. 

"  All  around  us  we  see  this  contest.  And  the  respon 
sibilities  for  its  results  lie  at  our  very  door.  Whether 
those  who  are  to  come  after  us  shall  have  every  advan 
tage  to  arm  and  strengthen  themselves  against  the  in 
fluence  of  evil  depends  in  a  large  degree  on  the  conduct 
of  the  generation  which  precedes  them  in  the  family 
circle,  or  the  wider  sphere  of  the  community  wherein 
they  dwell. 

"  It  is  men  that  make  the  State.  An  island  full  of 
savages  can  be  nothing  but  a  savage  State.  "Where  the 
people  worship  idols  of  wood  and  stone,  mankind  call  it 
a  heathen  State.  A  country  of  impure  men  must  be  an 
impure  State.  But  where  morality  and  intelligence  pre 
vail,  and  right  bears  sway,  and  conscience  is  respected 
and  obeyed,  the  on-looking  world  recognizes  that  there  ia 
a  country  worthy  to  be  embraced  in  the  circle  of  Chris 
tendom,  and  to  rank  high  among  the  civilized  States  of 
the  earth. 

"  The  hope  of  any  country  must  therefore  always  be 
with  its  young.  With  them  we  see  the  candle  of  life, 
not  like  us  of  middle  age,  half  consumed,  but  just  lit ; 
and  so  to  be  trimmed  that  it  shall  burn  brighter  and 
brighter  till  it  expires  in  the  socket.  And  this  fact  has 
been  recognized  in  every  age  of  the  world.  Heraclitus, 
who  twenty-five  hundred  years  ago  was  called  the  crying 
philosopher,  refused  to  accept  the  chief  magistracy  of  his 
nation,  preferring  to  spend  his  time  in  educating  children 
than  even  to  govern  the  corrupt  Ephesians.  Cataline, 
when  he  sought,  two  thousand  years  ago,  to  overthrow 
the  liberties  of  his  country,  and — as  traitors  in  our  own 
era  have  done — to  act  the  parricide  toward  the  land 


1 64  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

which  had  given  him  birth,  and  honors,  and  power,  at 
tempted  first  to  corrupt  the  younger  Komans,  and  thus 
to  win  them  to  his  nefarious  endeavors. 

"If  you  concede,  then — as  you  must,  for  history  is 
full  of  its  proofs — that  the  hope  of  a  country  is  with  its 
young,  how  priceless  are  the  hundreds  of  institutions 
like  this,  and  the  tens  of  thousands  of  schools  of  other 
grades  in  which  our  land  rejoices  to-day!  How  truly 
did  Cicero  declare:  'Study  cherishes  youth,  delights 
age,  adorns  prosperity,  furnishes  support  in  adversity, 
tarries  with  us  by  night  and  by  day,  and  attends  us  in 
all  our  journeyings  and  wanderings !'  And  again,  when 
on  another  occasion  that  eloquent  orator  eulogized  Wis 
dom:  'For  what  is  there,'  said  he,  ' more  desirable  than 
wisdom?  What  more  excellent  and  lovely  in  itself? 
What  more  useful  and  becoming  for  a  man  ?  or  what 
more  worthy  of  his  reasonable  nature?'  And,  in  the 
inspired  record,  Solomon,  in  even  a  loftier  strain  than 
the  master  of  Koman  eloquence,  exclaims:  'Happy  is 
the  man  that  findeth  wisdom,  and  the  man  that  getteth 
understanding.  For  the  merchandise  of  it  is  better  than 
the  merchandise  of  silver,  and  the  gain  thereof  than  fine 
gold.  Length  of  days  is  in  her  right  hand,  and  in  her 
left  hand  riches  and  honor.  She  is  a  tree  of  life  to  them 
that  lay  hold  upon  her,  and  happy  is  every  one  that  re- 
taineth  her.  Exalt  her,  and  she  shall  promote  thee.  She 
shall  bring  to  thy  head  an  ornament  of  grace.  A  crown 
of  glory  shall  she  deliver  to  thee.7 

"  Eecognizing,  as  I  trust  all  of  you  do,  without  further 
argument  or  illustration,  that  the  mind,  like  the  earth, 
yields  the  richest  fruit  only  when  cultivated,  I  wish  to 
improve  this  opportunity,  accidentally  opened  to  me,  by 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  165 

a  few  remarks,  first  to  the  Teachers,  and  lastly  to  the 
Taught. 

"Of  all  the  earthly  professions  I  know  of  none  more 
honorable,  more  useful,  wider-reaching  in  its  influence 
than  the  profession  of  the  teacher.  If  faithful  in  this 
vocation,  he  has  a  right  to  claim,  as  John  Howard 
did,  that  his  monument  shoulcj:  be  a  sun-dial,  not  ceas 
ing  to  be  useful  even  after  death.  He  is  to  so  fill  the 
fountains  of  the  minds  committed  to  his  charge  that 
from  thence  shall  ever  flow  streams  fertilizing  and 
beneficent ;  and  he  is  to  be  the  exemplar  for  the  young 
before  him  in  healthful  moral  influence,  which  is  the 
foundation  of  character. 

''As  no  one  is  fit  to  be  an  officer  in  war  who  has  not 
hecoic  blood  in  his  veins,  or  to  be  an  artist  who  has  no 
esthetic  taste,  or  to  be  a  poet  who  does  not  understand 
the  power  of  rhythm  or  meter,  or  to  be  a  historian  or 
a  statesman  without  a  broad  and  comprehensive  mind, 
so  no  one  should  be  a  teacher  who  has  not  a  heart  full 
of  love  for  the  profession,  and  an  energy  and  enthusiasm 
willing  joyously  to  confront  all  its  responsibilities.  It 
requires  great  patience,  untiring  industry,  abounding 
kindness,  pure  unselfishness,  and  fidelity  to  duty  and 
principle.  And  when  happily  combined,  success  is  ab 
solutely  assured. 

"And  first  let  me  say,  as  children  resemble  their  parents 
in  feature,  so  will  they  resemble  in  character  the  teacher 
who  trains  their  youthful  years.  If  that  teacher  has  an 
excess  of  the  gall  of  bitterness  instead  of  the  milk  of 
human  kindness,  its  daily  exhibition  will  assist  in  the 
development  of  the  evil  side  of  all  who  witness  it.  But 
if,  on  the  contrary,  he  or  she  brings  sunshine  into  the 

room   when  they  enter — diffuses  happiness,  by  genial 
10 


166  Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax. 

conduct,  on  all  around  them — plays  on  the  heart-strings 
of  their  pupils  by  the  mystic  power  of  love — the  very 
atmosphere  thus  created  will  be  warm  with  affection 
and  trusting  confidence;  and  that  better  nature  which 
is  ever  struggling  within  us  for  the  mastery  over  evil, 
will  be  strengthened  and  developed  into  an  activity 
which  will  give  it  healthful  power  for  all  after-life. 

"It  is  for  this  reason  the  teacher  should  ever  be  just 
what  he  would  have  his  pupils  become,  that  they  may 
learn  by  the  precept  of  example,  as  well  as  by  the  precept 
of  instruction.  He  should  find  the  way  to  the  heart  of 
every  one  within  his  circle,  and  lead  him  thereby  into 
the  walks  of  knowledge  and  virtue,  not  driving  by  will, 
but  attracting  by  love.  And  if  he  searches  faithfully  he 
will  find  the  heart  of  even  the  most  wayward.  It  may 
be  overlaid  with  temper,  selfishness,  even  with  wicked 
ness;  but  it  can  be,  nay,  it  must  be,  reached  and  touched. 

"  The  teacher,  too,  should  be  an  exemplar  in  punctual 
ity,  order,  and  discipline,  for  in  all  these  his  pupils  will 
copy  him.  He  can  only  obtain  obedience  by  himself 
obeying  the  laws  he  is  to  enforce.  A  minister  who  does 
not  practice  what  he  preaches  will  find  that  his  most  earn 
est  exhortations  fall  heedless  on  leaden  ears ;  and  children 
of  both  a  smaller  and  a  larger  growth  quickly  detect 
similar  inconsistencies.  Whoever  would  rightly  guide 
youthful  footsteps  must  lead  correctly  himself;  and  one 
of  our  humorous  writers  has  compressed  a  whole  volume 
into  a  sentence  when  he  says,  '  to  train  up  a  child  in  the 
way  he  should  go,  walk  in  it  yourself.1 

"  Finally,  let  the  teacher,  recognizing  the  true  nobility 
and  the  far-reaching  influence  of  his  profession,  stretch 
ing  beyond  mature  years,  or  middle  age,  or  even  the  last 
of  earth,  and  beyond  the  stars  to  a  deathless  eternity, 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  167 

pursue  his  daily  duties  with  ardor,  with  earnestness  of 
purpose,  with  tireless  energy.  And  let  him  feel  that  as 
a  State  is  honored  by  its  worthiest  sons — as  Kentucky 
enshrines  the  name  of  her  Clay,  and  Tennessee  her 
Jackson,  and  Massachusetts  her  Adams,  Webster  and 
Everett,  and  Khode  Island  her  Koger  Williams,  and 
Pennsylvania  her  Franklin,  and  Illinois  her  Lincoln 
and  New  York  and  Virginia  their  scores  of  illustrious 
sons — so  will  his  pupils  rise  up  to  honor  him  if  he  so 
trains  them  as  to  be  worthy  of  their  honor.  Success  will 
be  his  if  he  but  deserves  it.  Governor  Boutwell,  who 
added  to  his  fame  as  chief  magistrate  of  Massachusetts 
by  gracing  for  years  the  superin  tendency  of  her  unrivalled 
educational  system,  said  truly  and  tersely :  *  Those  who 
succeed  are  the  men  who  believe  they  can  succeed ;  and 
those  who  fail  are  those  to  whom  success  would  have 
been  a  surprise.' 

"  I  pass  from  this  rapid  review  of  the  duties  of  a  Teacher 
to  a  few  thoughts  addressed  more  especially  to  Students. 
Let  me  leave  the  beaten  road  of  educational  addresses, 
and  saying  nothing  of  history,  geography,  grammar, 
astronomy,  mathematics,  the  languages,  and  other  special 
accomplishments,  ask  your  attention  to  characteristics 
that  it  seems  to  me  should  be  cultivated  and  developed. 
Not  that  I  would  not  inculcate,  primarily,  every  possible 
acquisition  of  knowledge.  Learn  all  we  can  in  a  life 
time,  and  we  shall  feel  at  last  like  that  eminent  and  self- 
taught  Grecian  philosopher,  Socrates,  who  said  that  all 
he  professed  to  know  was  that  he  knew  nothing;  or  as 
Isaac  Newton  more  strikingly  expressed  the  same  idea 
in  his  oft- quoted  simile,  that  he  felt  like  a  child  on  the 
shore  of  time,  picking  up  a  few  pebbles,  while  the  great 
ocean  lay  unexplored  before  him.  But  I  would  improve 


1 68  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

these  passing  moments  by  some  suggestions  as  to  those 
elements  of  character  and  thought  that  seem  essential  to 
a  well-rounded  life.  And  in  using  the  masculine  in  re 
ferring  to  students  as  well  as  teachers,  I  do  it  for  brevity 
only,  intending  of  course  to  include  both  sexes.  For 
neither  sex  is  inferior  or  superior  as  such.  Man  is  fitted 
by  nature  for  rough  contact  with  the  world.  Woman 
for  the  more  graceful  duties  of  the  domestic  circle.  Man 
for  the  hard,  stern,  laborious  labor  of  life.  Woman  to 
really  rule  the  world,  by  being  the  mothers  of  those  who 
are  to  govern  it. 

"  Conspicuous  among  these  characteristics  is  the  duty 
of  Self-control,  and  its  natural  offspring,  Self-reliance. 
The  great  maxim  of  Socrates  was,  'Know  thyself — 
the  famous  inscription  on  the  Delphic  temple,  which  the 
ancients  claimed  came  down  from  the  skies.  I  cannot, 
in  a  brief  address,  even  allude  to  all  which  is  embraced 
in  these  two  comprehensive  words — self-control.  The 
inspired  record  declares  in  language  which  combines 
counsel  with  prophecy :  '  He  that  is  slow  to  anger  is 
better  than  the  mighty ;  and  he  that  ruleth  his  spirit 
than  he  that  taketh  a  city.'  You  must  master  yourself. 
You  must  rule  your  passions  and  your  temper,  or  they 
will  rule  you.  It  is  strength  to  have  moral  principle. 
It  is  strength  to  stand  up  against  shocks  of  adversity. 
It  is  strength  to  be  calm  and  self-contained,  even  when 
the  arrows  of  malice  pierce  you  most  cruelly.  It  is 
strength  to  perform  your  whole  duty  to  man  without 
hope  of  reward.  The  man  of  unbending  moral  principle 
is  a  real  hero.  The  man  who  stands  erect,  with  his  heel 
on  the  demon  of  temptation,  hydra-headed  as  it  is,  is 
nobler  and  stronger  than  the  most  gifted  statesman  or 
the  conquering  chief.  The  taint  of  sin  gives  all  of  us 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  169 

passions,  temper,  and  evil,  and  opens  a  hundred  avenues 
to  the  tempter.  To  close  them  all,  and  to  live  true  to 
yourself  and  the  right,  is  to  bless  your  own  heart  while 
you  bless  mankind.  Your  character  is  to  be  built  up 
like  a  dam  in  a  river.  While  being  compacted  and  solid 
ified,  the  restrained  waters,  like  evil  passions  and  wicked 
impulses,  seek  to  break  through;  a  single  breach,  and 
it  widens ;  and  at  last  the  torrent  destroys.  But  guard 
against  the  smallest  fracture,  and  it  is  safe,  and  strength 
ens  year  by  year,  until  at  last,  firm  as  the  anchored 
rock,  it  breasts  the  mightiest  floods  and  freshets  un 
harmed.  Without  this  enlightened,  unyielding  self-con 
trol,  our  life  is  like  a  ship,  without  compass  or  rudder, 
blown  about  by  every  wind,  and  at  last  wrecked  upon 
the  beach.  But  with  it,  it  is  like  the  same  ship  with  a 
safe,  strong  arm  at  the  helm,  that  holds  her  to  her  course 
when  the  storm-cloud  lowers  or  the  angry  gale  seeks  to 
drive  her  toward  the  breakers,  that  avoids  the  shoals 
and  hidden  rocks,  and  brings  her  safely  into  port. 

"  In  this  endeavor  fail  not  to  war  against  Vice  in  all  its 
myriad  forms.  Evil  is  often  robed  in  splendid  attire ; 
but  however  gorgeous  the  monumental  shaft,  yet  within 
is  always  corruption  and  decay.  The  apple  may  appear 
tempting  and  beautiful  to  the  eye,  but  if  the  canker-worm 
is  at  the  core,  it  is  destined  to  a  rottenness  no  earthly 
power  can  avert.  It  is  the  first  approach,  too,  which 
should  be  most  sternly  repulsed.  Bach  temptation,  from 
without  or  from  within,  which  moral  rectitude  enables 
us  to  resist,  leaves  us  that  much  stronger  for  the  next 
encounter.  But  woe  to  her  or  him  who  yields.  At  each 
successive  attack  the  moral  stamina  becomes  weaker  and 
weaker,  as  the  walls  of  even  a  Sebastopol  lose  their  pro- 


170  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

tective  value  whenever  a  single  breach  in  them  is  made. 
How  truthfully  has  a  gifted  poet  declared : 

**  *  "We  are  not  worst  at  once.     The  course  of  evil 
Begins  so  slowly,  and  from  such  slight  source, 
An  infant's  hand  could  stem  its  breach  with  clay. 
But  let  the  stream  grow  deeper,  and  Philosophy, 
Aye,  and  Religion,  too,  shall  strive  hi  vain 
To  stem  the  headlong  torrent.' 

"  All  writers  on  education  agree  that  the  chief  means 
of  intellectual  improvement  are  five :  Observation,  Con 
versation,  Beading,  Memory,  and  Keflection.  But  I 
have  sometimes  thought  that  educators  did  not  bring 
out  the  two  last  into  the  commanding  and  paramount  im 
portance  they  deserve,  sacrificing  them  to  a  wider  range 
of  reading  and  of  studies.  Knowledge  is  not  what  we 
learn,  but  what  we  retain.  It  is  not  what  people  eat; 
but  what  they  digest,  that  makes  them  strong.  It  is  not 
the  amount  .of  money  they  handle,  but  what  they  save} 
that  makes  them  rich.  It  is  not  what  they  read  or  study, 
but  what  they  remember,  that  makes  them  learned.  And 
memory,  too,  is  one  of  those  wondrous  gifts  of  God  to 
man  that  should  be  assiduously  cultivated.  Much,  of 
your  mental  acquisitions  will  form  a  secret  fund,  locked 
up  even  from  your  own  eyes  till  you  need  to  bring  it 
into  use ;  a  mystery  that  no  philosopher  has  yet  been, 
or  ever  will  be,  able  to  explain.  There  it  lies  hidden, 
weeks,  months,  years,  and  scores  of  years,  till  may 
hap  a  half  century  afterward  it  bursts  when  needed,  at 
memory's  command,  upon  the  mind  like  a  hidden  spring 
bubbling  up  at  the  very  hour  of  need  in  the  pathway  of 
the  thirsty  traveller. 

"  While  I  have  counselled  self-reliance,  and  would  go 
further  and  urge  you  to  labor  to  deserve  the  good 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  171 

opinion  of  your  fellow-men,  I  do  not  counsel  that  longing 
for  Fame  which  is  so  much  more  largely  developed  under 
our  free  Eepublic  than  in  any  other  realm  upon  the 
globe.  Lord  Mansfield  once  uttered  as  advice,  what 
history  teaches  us  he  should  have  declared  as  an  axiom, 
that  that  popularity  is  alone  valuable  and  enduring 
which  follows  you,  not  that  which  you  run  after.  It 
was  Sumner  Lincoln  Fairfield  who  wrote  : 

*'  *  Fame  I  'tis  the  madness  of  contending  thought, 
Toiling  in  tears,  aspiring  in  despair ; 
Which  steals  like  Love's  delirium  o'er  the  brain, 
And,  while  it  buries  childhood's  purest  joys, 
Wakes  manhood's  dreary  agonies  into  life.' 

"  Far  be  it  from  me  to  counsel  longings  for  such  a  fame 
as  this.  '  Toiling  in  tears,  aspiring  in  despair'  is  but  a 
poor  preparation  for  the  enjoyment  of  popular  honors  or 
the  performance  of  public  trusts.  And  there  is  an  ex 
ceedingly  better  way.  It  is  to  climb,  young  men,  with 
buoyant  heart,  the  hill  of  knowledge.  It  is  to  boldly 
scale  the  Alps  and  Apennines  which  ever  rear  them 
selves  in  your  pathway.  It  is  to  feel  your  sinews 
strengthen,  as  they  will,  with  every  obstacle  you  sur 
mount.  It  is  to  build  yourself,  developing  mental 
strength,  untiring  energy,  and  sleepless  zeal,  fervent 
patriotism,  and  earnest  principle,  until  the  public  shall 
feel  that  you  are  the  'man  they  need,  and  that  they  must 
command  you  into  the  public  service.  And  if  per 
chance  that  call  should  not  happen  to  come,  and  you 
should  be  forced  to  remain  an  American  sovereign  in 
stead  of  becoming  a  public  servant,  you  shall  have  your 
reward  in  the  rich  stores  of  knowledge  you  have  thus 
collected,  and  which  shall  ever  be  at  your  command. 
More  valuable  than  earthly  treasure — while  fleets  may 


172  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

sink,  and  storehouses  consume,  and  banks  may  totter, 
and  riches  flee — the  intellectual  investments  you  have 
thus  made  will  be  permanent  and  enduring,  unfailing  as 
the  constant  flow  of  Niagara  or  Amazon ;  a  bank  whose 
dividends  are  perpetual,  whose  wealth  is  undiminished, 
however  frequent  the  drafts  upon  it,  which,  though  moth 
may  impair,  yet  which  thieves  cannot  break  through  nor 
steal.  Nor  will  you  be  able  to  fill  these  storehouses  to 
their  full.  Pour  into  a  glass  a  stream  of  water,  and  at 
last  it  fills  to  the  brim  and  will  not  hold  another  drop. 
But  you  may  pour  into  your  mind,  through  a  whole  life 
time,  streams  of  knowledge  from  every  conceivable 
quarter,  and  not  only  shall  it  never  be  full,  but  it  will 
constantly  thirst  for  more,  and  welcome  each  fresh 
supply  with  a  greater  joy.  Nay,  more.  To  all  around, 
you  may  impart  of  these  gladdening  streams  which  have 
so  fertilized  your  own  mind;  and  yet,  like  the  candle 
from  which  a  thousand  other  candles  may  be  lit  without 
diminishing  its  flarne,  your  own  supply  shall  not  be  im 
paired.  On  the  contrary,  your  knowledge,  as  you  add 
to  it,  will  itself  attract  still  more  as  it  widens  your  realm 
of  thought ;  and  thus  will  you  realize  in  your  own  life, 
the  parable  of  the  Ten  Talents,  for  '  to  him  that  hath 
shall  be  given.' 

"  I  cannot  pass  by  in  silence  another  characteristic  so 
necessary  for  a  worthy,  useful,  honored  life.  It  is  that 
Moral  Courage  which  sustains  those  who  stand  frankly, 
fearlessly,  inflexibly  for  what  their  conscience  tells  them 
is  right.  Vox  populi  has  not  always  been  Vox  Dei,  and 
when  it  requires  of  you  what  duty  to  yourself  or  your 
country  forbids  you  to  perform,  it  is  Vox  diaboli.  From 
the  graves  of  the  fathers  of  our  land  come  the  words 
both  of  instruction  and  example  ;  teaching  us  rather  to 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  173 

imitate,  as  they  did,  the  fearlessness  of  Paul  when  he 
stood,  proudly  and  alone,  before  Felix,  than  the  craven 
cowardice  of  Pilate  when  he  shrunk  from  what  he  con 
fessed  to  be  his  duty  before  a  blinded  and  infuriated 
populace.  Truth  may  have,  as  in  the  olden  time,  but  a 
single  worshipper,  while  Baal  has  his  thousands  of 
priests.  And  the  man  who  stands  fearlessly  for  the 
right  amid  the  devotees  of  wrong;  who  wars,  single- 
handed  if  need  be,  against  tyranny  or  treason  where  evil 
and  injustice  have  their  legions  of  minions;  who  loves 
the  good  and  follows  in  its  ways  because  it  is  the  right, 
and  eschews  error  and  wickedness  however  easy  or 
profitable  may  be  its  service;  who  calmly  and  confi 
dently  looks  to  the  future  for  his  vindication ;  and  who, 
like  Christian,  in  that  sacred  Iliad,  the  '  Pilgrim's  Pro 
gress,7  presses  forward  in  the  journey  of  life  with  steady 
and  fearless  step,  regardless  of  Apollyon,  of  Vanity 
Fair,  or  even  the  giant  Despair — that  man,  whether  in 
palace  or  cottage,  under  a  republican  or  despotic  flag, 
the  most  learned  or  the  most  illiterate  of  his  land,  is  the 
true  moral  victor  on  the  battle-field  of  life.  He  shall 
have  his  reward ;  for  in  that  land  where  the  streets  are 
gold,  and  the  gates  are  pearl,  and  the  walls  are  jasper 
and  sapphire,  his  star  of  victory  shall  shine  brighter  and 
brighter ;  while  the  laurels  of  sceptre  and  of  crown,  of 
office  and  of  fame,  shall  wither  into  the  dust  and  ashes 
out  of  which  they  were  formed. 

'*  How  forcibly  were  all  these  duties  imprinted  on  my 
mind  while  listening,  some  years  since,  to  a  lecture  for 
young  men  from  that  twice-repeated  proverb  of  Solo 
mon,  *  There  is  a  way  that  seemeth  right  unto  a  man, 
but  the  end  thereof  are  the  ways  of  Death !'  And  as 
these  ways  were  pointed  out,  I  was  reminded  of  one  of 


174  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax, 

the  precepts  of  that  eminent  philosopher,  Pythagoras, 
who,  though  born  in  Samos  nearly  six  hundred  years 
before  the  Christian  era,  converted  by  his  teachings  a 
wicked  and  corrupt  nation  to  sobriety,  virtue,  and 
frugality,  and  whose  quaint  simile  seemed  to  be  based 
upon  that  very  inculcation  of  the  Old  Testament.  It 
was,  '  Kemember  that  the  paths  of  virtue  and  of  vice 
resemble  the  letter  Y.'  Starting  at  the  same  point,  the 
roads  soon  diverge  to  the  right  and  to  the  left.  It -was 
Persius,  I  think,  who,  hundreds  of  years  afterwards, 
wrote  of  this  precept : 

"  *  There  did  the  Samian  Y  instruction  make, 
Pointed  the  road  thy  doubtful  foot  should  take, 
There  warned  thy  faltering  and  unpractised  youth 
To  tread  the  rising  right-hand  path  of  Truth.' 

"  Thus  shall  you  win  the  noble  attribute  of  virtuous 
self-reliance — not  the  arrogance  of  egotism  and  the 
vanity  of  self-esteem — but  the  manly  independence  of 
a  rnanly  mind — the  fidelity  to  your  own  conscience  and 
to  principle — the  assurance  that  if  you  have  planted 
yourself  on  the  rock  of  Truth,  if  you  have  armed  your 
self  with  the  panoply  of  Justice,  if  you  have  guarded 
yourself  with  the  shield  of  Right,  'even  the  gates  of 
hell  shall  not  prevail  against  you.' 

"  Nor  can  I  leave  this  boundless  theme,  which  widens 
before  me  as  I  progress,  without  alluding  to  that  Duty 
which  towers  above  all  others,  both  in  the  magnitude 
of  its  sphere  and  the  commanding  authority  of  Him 
who  proclaimed  it.  Up  through  the  long  procession  of 
centuries  our  mind  travels  back  to  the  sacred  mount 
where  the  assembled  multitudes  from  Galilee,  and  De- 
capolis,  and  Jerusalem,  and  Judea,  and  from  beyond 
Jordan,  listened  reverently  to  Him  who  spoke  as 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  175 

never  man  had  spoken  before.  And  after  that  striking 
exordium  of  blessings,  and  the  subsequent  inculcations 
of  love,  of  charity,  of  concord,  of  forbearance,  of  humility, 
and  of  prayer,  he  opened  the  peroration  of  that  extra 
ordinary  discourse  which  stands  without  a  rival  in  the 
realm  of  sacred  or  human  eloquence,  with  that  which 
he  announced  as  the  embodiment  and  concentration  of 
all: 

"'THEREFORE  all  things  whatsoever  ye  would  that 
men  should  do  to  you,  do  you  even  so  to  them ;  for  this 
is  the  law  and  the  prophets.' 

"  Some  there  are  who  regard  this  comprehensive  rule 
of  action  and  of  life  as  paraphrased  from  that  eminent 
and  learned  Chinese  philosopher,  Confucius,  who,  five 
hundred  years  before,  had  laid  down  as  a  maxim  that 
none  should  do  unto  their  fellows  what  they  would  not 
have  done  to  themselves.  But  apart  from  the  broad 
distinction  between  the  affirmative  command  of  the  one 
and  the  bare  negation  of  the  other,  the  rule  itself,  thus 
laid  down  on  the  Mount,  is  but  a  repetition  and  con 
densation  of  what  the  Creator  had  declared  to  Moses,  in 
the  tabernacle  of  the  Congregation,  a  thousand  years 
before  Confucius  lived  and  died:  "Thou  shall  not 
defraud  thy  neighbor,  neither  rob  him ;'  'Thou  shalt 
not  avenge  nor  bear  any  grudge  against  the  children  of 
the  people.'  And  then,  rising  from  the  language  of 
prohibition  to  that  of  command,  here,  in  the  same  spirit 
as  on  the  Mount  fifteen  centuries  after,  the  conclusion 
of  the  whole  matter  is,  'But  thou  shalt  love  thy  neigh 
bor  as  thyself.' 

"  Such  is  the  Eule  of  all  Eules— the  Duty  of  all  Duties 
— the  Law  of  all  Laws — for  human  conduct  in  this  wide 
world  of  ours.  How  it  sparkles  in  its  brilliancy,  in 


176  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

contrast  with  the  Iron  Kule  of  tyranny,  which  teaches 
that  *  might  makes  right  P  How  it  glows  in  the  firma 
ment,  when  compared  with  what  has  been  called  the 
Silver  Rule  of  the  earth,  which  bids  you  to  mete  out  to 
others  as  they  have  measured  to  you  I  Eightly  has  the 
whole  civilized  world  recognized  the  inspired  command 
as  indeed  the  Golden  Eule.  And  if  lived  up  to  by  all 
on  earth,  what  a  paradise  would  it  make  of  this  globe ! 
May  it  ever  go  before  you  as  the  pillar  of  fire  of  old, 
guiding  your  footsteps  as  well  as  governing  your  lives  ! 
"  I  cannot  close  this  address,  which  you  have  already 
found  has  treated  of  the  education  of  the  heart  more 
than  of  the  mind — the  moral  nature  more  than  the  intel 
lectual — without  insisting  that  all  of  you  have  it  in 
your  power  to  make  this  world  happier  and  better  by 
your  presence  in  it,  and  that  you  have  no  right  to  hide 
this  power  in  a  napkin.  Look  around  you  on  every 
side  as  you  go  out  from  these  walls  into  the  busy 
world.  You  will  find  some,  selfish,  cold,  austere, 
repulsive,  forbidding.  No  noble  charity  affects  their 
souls.  No  unselfish  deed  warms  their  natures.  No 
generous  act  unlocks  their  hearts.  No  blessings  are 
invoked  upon  their  heads.  Living  for  self  alone,  they 
carry  with  them  to  their  graves  hearts  of  steel  and 
faces  of  iron.  But  there  are  others  active  in  every 
good  word  and  work.  Is  there  a  cry  of  distress? 
They  do  not  lecture  the  unfortunate,  but  promptly 
proffer  the  helping  hand.  Is  there  misery  to  be  assuaged  ? 
Is  there  a  wounded  heart  that  needs  the  oil  of  consola 
tion?  Do  the  rough  winds  of  adversity  smite  their 
neighbor  ? — and  all  mankind  is  your  neighbor.  How 
cheerfully  they  speed  on  the  errand  of  humanity  !  How 
joyously  they  go  forth  on  their  labor  of  love  I  My 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  177 

young  friends,  the  true  felicity  of  this  world  is  in  making 
others  happy.  It  is  this  which  fills  your  own  soul  with 
joy.  It  is  this  which  causes  a  constant  influx  of  glad 
ness  into  your  own  heart.  For  in  blessing  others  you 
bless  yourself.  To  me  the  most  beautiful  couplet  in  the 
English  language  is — 

44  *  Count  that  day  lost  whose  low  descending  sun 
Views  from  thy  hand  no  noble  action  done.1 

"  None  of  us  can  live  up  to  this  noble  lesson  of  life  fully ; 
but  in  striving  towards  this  ideal  you  shall  diffuse  a 
genial  sunshine  around  you,  which  will  make  you,  in 
many  hearts,  beloved  while  living  and  mourned  when 
dead.  Lord  Bacon  said  most  beautifully  that  'man's 
heart  was  not  an  island,  cut  off  from  all  other  lands,  but 
a  continent  which  joins  them.'  And  if  you  will  thus, 
while  educating  the  intellect  and  enlarging  the  mind, 
and  filling  yourselves  with  the  priceless  knowledge  you 
acquire  here,  and  which  is  to  fit  you  for  useful  members 
of  society  hereafter,  also  educate  the  heart,  widening 
the  sphere  of  your  affections  and  the  scope  of  your  duty 
to  the  less  fortunate,  who  are  ever  near  to  your  very 
doors,  you  shall  all 

•*  *  Earn  names  that  win 

Happy  remembrance  from  the  great  and  good — 
Names  that  shall  sink  not  in  oblivion's  flood, 
But  with  clear  music,  like  a  church-bell's  chime, 
Sound  through  the  river's  sweep  of  onward-rushing  time.1  " 


178  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

FIRMNESS  AND  BOLDNESS  —  TESTIMONY  OF  COLONEL 
FORNEY — MOTION  FOR  MR.  LONG'S  EXPULSION — PRE 
SENTATION  OF  SILVER  SERVICE  TO  MR.  COLFAX — 
SPEECH  BY  MR.  M'CULLOCH — RESPONSE  BY  MR.  COL- 
FAX— A  FRIEND'S  SONNET. 

MR.  COLFAX  is  a  man  of  benevolent  disposition,  of 
genial  kindness  and  crystal-like  purity ;  he  is  also  a  man 
of  iron  firmness.  His  adherence  to  principle  is  unwaver 
ing,  and  his  boldness  in  maintaining  that,  which  in  his 
conviction,  is  right,  dauntless.  Colonel  Forney,  writing 
of  him  in  connection  with  the  performance  of  his  duties 
as  Speaker  in  the  Thirty-eighth  Congress,  said :  "  He 
has  been  the  embodiment  of  the  war  policy  of  the  Gov 
ernment." 

In  April,  1864,  Mr.  Long,  of  Ohio,  made  a  speech  in 
the  House  of  Eepresentatives,  virtually  declaring  the 
rebellion  right  and  the  war  for  the  Union  unjust  and 
wrong ;  that  the  names  of  our  battle-fields  were  synon 
ymous  with  disunion  instead  of  union.  The  speech 
seemed  in  fact  almost  like  the  unfurling  of  the  Confed 
erate  flag  on  the  floor  of  the  House.  Without  consulta 
tion  with  his  friends  upon  the  subject,  Mr.  Colfax,  under 
an  imperative  sense  of  duty  to  the  country  and  to  the 
soldiers  that  were  in  the  field  and  before  the  enemy, 
calling  upon  another  member  of  the  House  to  preside, 
left  the  Speaker's  chair,  and  upon  the  floor  of  the  House 
made  a  motion  for  the  expulsion  of  Mr.  Long  as  an  un 
worthy  member,  and  supported  the  motion  with  a  speech. 
The  following  are  its  opening  paragraphs : 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  179 

"MR.  SPEAKER:  'Where  are  we?'  was  the  emphatic 
question  propounded  by  the  eloquent  gentleman  from 
the  first  district  of  Ohio  [Mr.  Pendleton]  on  Tuesday 
last.  I  answer  him :  We  are  in  the  Capitol  of  our  nation. 
We  are  in  the  hall  where  assembles  the  Congress  of  this 
Kepublic,  which,  thank  God,  in  spite  of  conspiracy  and 
treason,  still  lives ;  in  spite  of  enemies,  open  and  covert, 
within  and  without  our  lines,  with  and  without  arms  in 
their  hands,  still  lives,  and  which,  thanks  to  our  gallant 
defenders  in  the  field,  will  live  as  long  as  time  shall 
last.  'Where  are  we?'  said  he.  I  will  answer  him  in 
the  language  of  his  colleague,  [Mr.  Long,]  whose  speech 
is  under  review : 

" '  From  the  day  on  which  the  conflict  began  up  to  the 
present  hour,  the  Confederate  army  has  not  been  forced 
beyond  the  sound  of  their  guns  from  the  dome  of  the 
Capitol  in  which  we  are  assembled.  The  city  of  Wash 
ington  is  to-day,  as  it  has  been  for  three  years,  guarded 
by  Federal  troops  in  all  the  forts  and  fortifications  with 
which  it  is  surrounded.' 

"And  yet,  sir,  while  we  are  thus  placed;  'in  this 
fearful  hour  of  the  country's  peril,'  as  the  gentleman 
from  Ohio  [Mr.  Long]  says  in  the  opening  paragraph  of 
his  speech ;  while  the  scales  of  national  life  and  death 
are  trembling  in  the  balance ;  while  our  veterans  are  at 
the  front  seeking  to  save  the  life  of  the  country,  and 
willing  to  seal  their  fidelity,  if  need  be,  with  their  heart's 
blood ;  with  the  enemy  almost  at  the  very  gates  of  your 
Capital ;  at  such  a  time  as  this  the  gentleman  from  the 
second  district  of  Ohio  rises  in  his  seat  and  declares  that 
our  Government  is  dead ;  nay,  more,  that  it  is  destroyed ; 
and  then,  having  thus  consigned  it  to  death  and  destruc 
tion,  he  avows  boldly  that  he  prefers  to  recognize  the 


i8o  Life  of  Sckuyler  Coif  ax. 

nationality  of  the  Confederacy  of  traitors,  which  has 
caused  this  alleged  death  of  the  Eepublic,  to  any  other 
alternative  that  remains." 

The  following  extracts  from  Mr.  Colfax's  speech  ex 
hibit  both  his  unyielding  firmness  in  duty  and  his  true 
kindness  of  heart : 

"  The  gentlemen  on  the  other  side,  every  one,  indeed, 
who  have  referred  to  it  at  all,  have  been  kind  enough 
to  speak  of  my  impartiality  as  the  presiding  officer  of 
the  House.  I  thank  them  for  this  testimonial,  which  I 
have  endeavored  to  deserve.  But  at  the  same  time 
most  of  them  have  expressed  '  regret'  that  I  left  the 
Speaker's  chair  and  came  down  upon  the  floor  of  the 
House.  I  have,  however,  no  regret.  I  did  it  in  the 
performance  of  what  seemed  to  me  an  imperative  duty, 
from  conscientious  conviction,  and  from  no  personal  un- 
kindness  toward  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Long].  I 
have  no  personal  unkindness  toward  him  or  any  human 
being  who  lives  upon  the  earth. 

"  If  my  course  is  a  disgrace,  you  can  fix  the  brand  on 
my  forehead,  and  I  will  wear  it  through  life,  nor  do  I 
want  any  prouder  epitaph  on  my  tombstone  than  that  I 
dared  fearlessly  to  stand  up  here  and  do  rny  duty  accord 
ing  to  my  convictions.  [Great  applause.] 

<c  Mr.  Speaker,  I  desire  that  the  rules  of  the  House 
forbidding  applause  should  be  obeyed.  Gentlemen  on 
the  other  side  have  been  displeased  with  the  galleries 
during  the  past  few  days.  We  have  sat  here,  sir,  when 
those  galleries  glowered  with  hate  in  their  eyes  upon 
those  who  spoke  for  freedom,  and  applauded  to  the  echo 
those  who  spoke  for  slavery,  and  never  were  they  cleared 
but  once,  to  my  knowledge.  It  is  unseemly  for  the 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  1 8 1 

galleries  to  indulge  in  applause  or  censure  for  what 
occurs  upon  the  floor;  and  I  would  rather  have  the 
'  God  bless  you'  of  some  poor  soldier's  widow  who  had 
seen  in  her  desolate  home  that  I  stood  up  for  the  cause 
for  which  her  husband  fell,  or  the  '  God  bless  you'  of 
the  soldier  on  his  dangerous  picket  duty  in  front  of  our 
army,  guarding  the  sleeping  host  with  his  own  life,  than 
the  applause  of  these  galleries,  crowded  as  they  are  with 
talent,  heroism,  and  beauty." 

One  of  the  most  interesting  debates  of  this  eventful 
Congress  followed  this  speech  of  Mr.  Colfax.  During 
the  course  of  the  debate,  his  resolution  of  expulsion  was, 
with  his  consent,  modified  to  one  of  censure,  in  which 
form  it  was  passed  by  a  large  majority. 

On  Saturday  evening,  May  7th,  1864,  a  large  number 
of  the  citizens  of  Indiana,  resident  in  Washington,  in 
cluding  many  ladies,  the  wives  and  daughters  of  those 
citizens,  met  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Colfax  for  the  purpose 
of  testifying  their  high  appreciation  of  his  public  services 
and  private  virtues.  Their  testimonial  was  a  set  of  silver 
of  beautiful  design  and  exquisite  workmanship.  On  the 
salver  was  this  inscription : 

"  Presented  to  Schuyler  Colfax,  Speaker  of  the  Thirty- 
eighth  Congress  of  the  United  States,  now  and  for  many 
years  a  faithful  representative  of  the  Ninth  Congressional 
District  of  Indiana,  eminent  in  the  councils  of  his  coun 
try,  her  able  and  patriotic  defender,  and  the  Soldier's 
Friend.  From  citizens  of  his  own  State,  who  recognize 
in  him  all  that  is  generous  and  just,  and  unwavering 
devotion  to  principle  and  duty.  May  7th,  1864" 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

The  following  presentation  speech  was  made  by  the 
Hon.  Hugh  McCulloch,  of  the  Treasury  Department : 


SPEECH  OF  ME.  McCULLOCH. 

"  Mr.  GOLF  AX  :  I  have  the  honor,  and  I  feel  it  to  be  an 
honor,  to  present  to  you,  in  behalf  of  a  few  of  your 
Indiana  friends,  a  testimonial  of  their  appreciation  of 
your  services  to  the  nation,  and  their  admiration  of  your 
public  and  private  character.  I  remark  that  this  offer 
ing  is  from  a  few  of  your  friends,  because,  had  it  been 
generally  known  in  Indiana  that  it  was  our  intention  thus 
to  express  our  regard  for  you,  and  each  subscription  had 
been  limited  to  the  smallest  sum  known  to  our  currency, 
so  numerous  are  your  friends  there,  that  this  tribute  of 
affection  and  esteem  would  have  been  far  more  costly 
and  elegant  than  it  is. 

"The  inscription  upon  it  indicates  that  this  'service 
of  plate'  is  presented  by  citizens  of  our  State  to  you  as 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Kepresentatives  of  the  United 
States,  the  Kepresentative  of  the  Ninth  Congressional 
District  of  the  State  of  Indiana,  and  the  Soldier's  Friend. 
But,  if  I  correctly  interpret  the  sentiments  of  your  other 
friends  by  my  own  sentiments,  this  tribute  is  not  be 
stowed  merely  nor  chiefly  because,  contending  against 
the  disadvantages  under  which  you  labored  in  early 
life,  you  bravely  fought  your  way  from  the  printing- 
office  of  a  small  western  village,  in  which  you  were  a 
youthful  pioneer,  to  places  of  high  honor  and  trust ;  not 
because  you  have  for  many  years  ably  represented  the 
same  district  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States ;  not 
because  you  are  now  tilling  the  chair  which  has  been 
occupied  by  many  of  the  noblest  and  most  talented  men 
) 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  183 

of  the  nation,  and  are  so  discharging  its  difficult  duties 
as  to  challenge  the  admiration  of  even  your  political 
opponents ;  but  because,  in  every  step  of  your  upward 
career,  you  have  been  true  to  your  convictions  of  duty; 
because,  (alas,  that  the  rarity  of  such  virtue  should  make 
the  exhibition  of  it  so  great  a  compliment  to  you,)  with  all 
the  opportunities  you  have  had  for  making  your  distin 
guished  positions  contribute  to  your  enrichment,  there 
is  no  stain  upon  your  reputation ;  because  you  have 
done  no  public  act  which  your  severest  friends  could 
wish  undone,  and  because  you  stand  before  the  country 
a  type  of  the  self-reliant,  unassuming,  patriotic  American 
citizen. 

"It  is  not  strange,  sir,  that  the  friends  who  have 
known  you  from  boyhood,  and  been  acquainted  with 
the  struggles  of  your  early  life;  who  have  witnessed 
your  ability  as  a  debater  before  the  people  and  in  the 
national  councils,  the  rapid  strides  you  have  made  to 
the  high  position  you  are  now  filling  with  such  distin 
guished  ability,  and  have  marked  especially  your  fidelity 
to  principle,  your  personal  integrity,  and  your  earnest 
and  active  loyalty  ;  it  is  not  strange,  I  say,  that  these 
friends  should  be  proud  of  you,  and  seek  an  occasion 
like  the  present  to  manifest  their  appreciation  of  your 
merits. 

"But,  sir,  this  testimonial  is  not  presented  to  you,  as  to 
one  who,  having  run  a  career  of  honor  and  usefulness, 
is  about  to  retire  from  public  life,  to  rest  upon  the  laurels 
he  has  won.  Never  did  our  beloved  country  need  the 
services  of  her  able  and  loyal  sons  as  she  needs  them 
to-day.  Never  were  honest,  self-sacrificing,  patriotic 
men  for  the  cabinet,  the  halls  of  legislation,  and  the 
field,  so  necessary  as  at  the  present  time.  When  eleven 


1 84  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

States  of  the  Union  have  thrown  off  their  allegiance  to 
the  Government  and  the  Constitution,  and  are  engaged 
in  a  rebellion,  at  the  magnitude  and  vindictiveness  of 
which  the  civilized  world  stands  aghast ;  when  in  the 
jloyal  States  so  many  of  our  people  seem  to  prefer  the 
Lsuccess  of  a  party  to  that  of  the  nation,  or  attempt  to 
bribe  a  doubtful  loyalty,  if  not  sympathy  with  the  rebels, 
under  the  cover  of  fidelity  to  the  Constitution  ;  when,  by 
so  many  claiming  to  be  loyal,  personal  gain  is  pursued 
at  the  expense  of  the  nation's  credit,  and  the  public 
interest  is  made  subservient  to  private  interests,  the 
appeal  of  the  country  to  her  true  sons  to  stand  by  her 
with  firm  hearts,  and  strong  arms,  and  honest  purposes, 
can  be  neither  honorably  nor  safely  ignored. 

"  Unless  I  overrate  the  strength  of  the  rebellion  and 
the  desperate  energy  of  its  leaders — unless  I  greatly 
misapprehend  the  nature  and  magnitude  of  the  work  to 
be  done  after  the  rebellion  is  crushed,  in  permanently 
establishing  our  institutions  upon  the  basis  of  universal 
freedom  and  equal  rights,  and  in  restoring  the  needful 
checks  upon  the  authority  of  the  rulers  over  the  rights 
of  the  people,  which  must  necessarily  be  disturbed,  if 
they  do  not  happen  to  be  wantonly  disregarded,  in  such 
a  war  as  is  now  being  waged  upon  our  own  soil — unless 
I  am  too  apprehensive  in  regard  to  the  future — great 
trials  are  before  us  as  individuals  and  as  a  nation — great 
trials  during  the  continuance  of  the  war,  and  perhaps 
still  greater  trials  after  the  war  has  been  successfully- 
closed;  trials  that  will  test  the  endurance,  the  loyalty, 
the  virtue  of  our  people,  as  they  have  never  yet  been 
tested.  But  I  have  an  abiding  faith  that  the  people  of 
the  free  North  will  be  equal  to  the  work  that  is  before 
them ;  that  success  will  not  intoxicate  nor  reverses  dis- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  185 

hearten  them ;  that,  whatever  may  be  its  cost,  they  will 
continue  the  war  until  the  rebellion  is  subdued  and  the 
integrity  of  the  Union  is  assured;  and  that,  when  this  is 
accomplished,  they  will  be  able  to  correct  whatever  ten 
dencies  to  centralization,  and  to  interference  with  the 
rights  of  the  people  and  the  rights  of  the  States  the  war 
may  have  brought  about. 

"It  will  continue  to  cost,  as  it  is  now  costing,  blood 
and  treasure  to  crush  out  this  unnatural  revolt,  but  it 
must  be  crushed,  because  the  existence  of  the  Govern 
ment,  if  not  the  cause  of  civil  liberty  in  the  United 
States,  depends  upon  its  being  crushed,  and  because  it 
will  be  less  costly  to  do  it  than  would  be  the  anarchy 
and  perpetual  war  which  would  be  the  result  of  its 
success. 

"  When  the  war  is  concluded,  there  will  be  required 
wisdom  and  statesmanship  and  patriotism,  to  place  the 
credit  of  the  nation  upon  a  solid  basis,  to  restore  the 
proper  checks  upon  Executive  power,  to  subordinate 
the  military  to  civil  authority,  and  fix  the  condition  of 
rebellious  States;  but  wisdom,  and  statesmanship,  and 
patriotism,  were  not  wanting  in  the  organization  and 
establishment  of  the  Government,  and  they  will  not  be 
lacking  in  reforming  and  perpetuating  it. 

(t  The  Kepublic  is  not  to  be  overthrown  by  the  des 
perate  efforts  of  a  proud  aristocracy  to  roll  back  the 
free,  progressive  spirit  of  the  age,  and  to  establish  upon 
the  ruins  of  a  part  of  our  giant  nation  a  despotic  con 
federacy  whose  corner-stone  and  cement  are  boastingly 
proclaimed  to  be  human  slavery.  Love  of  the  Union 
in  its  entirety,  and  of  constitutional  liberty,  is  engraven 
upon  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  the  North,  and,  with  the 


1 86  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

blessing  of  God,  both  shall  be  preserved  to  them  and 
their  descendants. 

"  But,  sir,  whatever  trials  may  be  before  us,  we  know 
where  you  will  be  found.  During  the  war  we  shall 
hear  your  voice  in  the  halls  of  legislation  and  before 
the  people,  rebuking  treason,  strengthening  the  faint 
hearted,  and  inspiriting  the  loyal  at  home,  and  sending 
words  of  cheer  to  our  gallant  soldiers  in  the  field ;  and 
when  peace  is  restored  to  us  you  will  be,  what  you  have 
been  in  the  past,  a  tribune  of  the  people,  a  champion 
of  popular  rights  and  of  constitutional  liberty. 

"  It  is  because  we  hold  you  in  this  high  estimation, 
and  are  confident  that  your  conduct  in  the  future,  both 
in  private  and  public  life,  will  be,  as  heretofore,  patriotic, 
honorable,  honest,  upright,  that  we  tender  to  you  this 
plate.  It  will  doubtless  be  less  valued  by  reason  of  its 
intrinsic  worth  than  as  an  evidence  of  the  feelings  that 
have  sought  expression  in  the  presentation  of  it.  Ac 
cept  it,  sir,  with  the  cordial  greetings  of  the  donors,  and 
their  heartfelt  wishes  for  your  health  and  happiness." 

REPLY  OF  ME.  COLFAX. 
"MY  DEAB  SIR,  AND  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN,  OK, 

RATHER,  LET  ME  DROP  THIS  FORMAL  APPELLATION,  AND 
CALL  YOU  BY  THE  MORE  ENDEARING  TITLE  OF  FRIENDS: 

I  scarcely  know  how  to  thank  you  for  the  magnificent 
and  costly  testimonial  you  have  presented  me  to-night ; 
for  when  the  heart  is  full  the  tongue  would  fain  be  silent. 
Valuable  as  is  this  gift  intrinsically,  it  will  ever  possess  to 
me  a  more  exceeding  worth,  because  it  came  from  friends 
of  my  own  State,  and  is  a  spontaneous  offering  of  their 
friendship  and  affection.  It  reminds  me  of  beloved 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  187 

friends  beyond  the  mountains  as  well  as  here ;  of  those 
who  are  with  us  to-night  in  heart,  but  not  in  person. 
And,  as  I  look  around  the  circle,  I  see  in  it  familiar 
faces,  many  who  have  known  me  from  the  days  of  my 
childhood  till  now,  who  have  been  friends  of  my  youth 
as  of  my  middle  age,  and  whose  attachment  has  been 
unshaken  as  the  hills,  growing  stronger  and  stronger  as 
the  years  rolled  by. 

"  To  know  that  you  think  me  worthy  of  such  a  testi 
monial  is  one  of  the  most  gratifying  events  of  my  life, 
measured  though  it  is  by  your  friendship  instead  of  any 
merits  of  mine.  It  will  be  a  new  incentive  so  to  live 
that  neither  you  nor  any  of  those  you  represent  will 
ever  have  cause  to  regret  this  distinguished  mark  of  your 
confidence  and  esteem.  While  I  live  I  will  cherish  this 
gift  as  the  most  valued  of  my  life;  and,  when  I  shall 
pass  away  and  join  those  who  have  gone  before,  though 
I  cannot  leave  it  to  any  who  bear  my  name,  I  shall  take 
care  that  it  shall  be  preserved  as  an  enduring  testimonial 
of  your  friendship  and  generosity. 

"  You  must  allow  me  to  add  that,  though  thus  appre 
ciating  your  abundant  kindness,  and  feeling  within  this 
circle  that  electric  thrill  that  betokens  heart  answering 
to  heart,  my  thoughts  to-day  and  to-night  have  been 
with  our  brave  soldiers  at  the  front,  who  there  interpose 
their  manly  forms  between  their  country  and  the  ene 
mies  who  are  seeking  its  life  and  theirs.  All  through 
the  long  hours  of  this  day,  warmed  with  the  premature 
heat  of  midsummer,  till  the  shadows  lengthened  with 
the  returning  eve,  and  the  twilight  darkened  into  night, 
my  heart  has  been  with  these  gallant  defenders  of  the 
Union  in  all  their  dangers  and  their  sacrifices.  To 
night  they  may  be  clustered  around  their  bivouacs — 


1 88  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

they  may  be  in  the  sharp  conflict,  bearing  aloft  their 
nation's  banner  amid  shot,  and  shell,  and  flame — they 
may  be  hurriedly  following  a  retreating  foe — or,  alas ! 
they  may  be  lying  on  the  battle-field,  their  bodies 
mangled  with  rebel  bullets,  and  their  sightless  eyes  up 
turned  towards  that  dim  unknown  to  which  their  souls 
have  already  gone.  May  Providence  '  cover  their  heads ' 
in  the  day  of  battle,  and  give  them  victory  over  those 
hosts  before  them,  led  on  by  chieftains  who  have  been 
foresworn ;  victory  for  an  imperilled  but  not  destroyed 
Union ;  victory  over  a  gigantic  conspiracy  to  blot  the 
nation  from  the  map  of  the  world ;  victory  which  shall 
turn  back  the  tide  of  rebel  success,  and  restore  peace 
and  unity  to  a  distracted  land. 

"Napoleon,  under  the  shadow  of  the  mysterious 
Pyramids,  stirred  the  hearts  of  his  soldiers  by  that 
striking  sentence :  '  Soldiers,  forty  centuries  look  down 
upon  you  to-day.7  But,  if  the  spirits  of  the  great  and 
good  are  permitted  in  that  better  land  above  to  feel  an 
interest  in  the  regions  where  they  won  their  immortal 
fame,  Washington  and  his  brave  compatriots  look  down 
to-day  upon  the  heroes  of  the  Republic  who  are  striving 
to  save  from  destruction  a  land  hallowed  by  their  sac 
rifices  and  re-sanctified  by  the  precious  blood  spilt  in  its 
defence. 

rt  I  feel,  sir,  an  honorable  pride  in  your  remark  that 
my  most  critical  friends  have  seen  no  act  of  my  life 
which  they  could  wish  had  been  unperformed.  I  have 
striven,  sir,  as  you  have  with  such  generous  partiality 
affirmed,  to  be  faithful  to  principle  and  duty,  however 
thick-set  might  be  the  thorns  in  the  pathway.  But  even 
more  valuable  and  gratifying  is  that  portion  of  the  in 
scription  on  the  service  of  plate  which  speaks  of  me  as 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  189 

the  '  Soldier's  Friend.'  In  private  and  in  public  life  I 
have  endeavored  so  to  act,  feeling  constantly,  however, 
that  the  debt  of  obligation  to  them  was  too  heavy 
ever  to  be  repaid  in  deeds.  And  with  my  whole  soul 
I  can  say  that  I  value  that  title  more  than  office,  or 
honors,  and  would  rather  be  bound  to  their  hearts 
and  yours,  '  with  hooks  of  steel,'  as  Shakspeare  writes, 
or  rather  with  the  unseen  but  no  less  potential  heart 
strings  of  affection,  than  to  enjoy  any  distinction  or 
earthly  fame. 

"  Accept,  sir,  and  all  of  you,  my  grateful  acknowledg 
ments,  and  believe  me,  that  to  have  a  home  in  the  hearts 
of  friends  who  regard  me  as  worthy  of  their  love  and 
esteem ;  who  feel  that  they  rejoice  over  any  success  that 
may  come  to  me  in  life ;  but  who  also  share  with  me  in 
my  sorrows,  and  lighten  care  by  their  sympathy  and 
affection,  is,  of  all  thoughts,  the  most  inspiriting,  and 
more  priceless  even  than  silver  or  gold.  And  when,  at 
last,  about  to  enter  on  that  sure  estate,  which  all  of  us 
onward  travellers  to  the  grave  are  destined  to  inherit,  if 
I  may  know,  when  passing  away,  that  you  will  remem 
ber  me  as  one  who  did  his  duty  faithfully  and  fearlessly, 
I  shall  feel  that,  perhaps,  I  have  not  lived  entirely  in 


At  the  conclusion  of  the  speech  of  Mr.  Colfax  the 
company  partook  of  a  sumptuous  banquet,  and  the  fes 
tivities  were  prolonged  to  a  late  hour  by  conversation 
and  interchange  of  social  greeting.  Many  Senators  and 
Representatives  were  present,  and  also  Bishop  Simpson, 
for  many  years  a  sincere  and  valued  friend  of  Mr.  Colfax. 
A  sonnet,  from  a  friend  of  Mr.  Colfax,  at  South  Bend, 
having  more  reputation  as  a  writer  of  truth  than  poetry, 


190  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

read  upon  the  occasion,  formed  (said  the  Washington 
Chronicle)  a  pleasant  ending  to  its  report  of  this  very 
agreeable  event: 

Colfax,  thy  past  has  won  the  Speaker's  chair 

And  honor's  post,  in  these  eventful  days  ; 

Thy  virtues  beam  from  thee,  as  silver  rays 
From  stars,  that  gem  the  night.     Thy  gifts  are  rare, 
And  precious  is  their  fruit.     Thou  art  the  clear 
Persuasive  orator  of  right ;  the  pure, 
Unsullied  patriot ;  the  changeless,  sure, 
And  genial  friend ;  to  many  hearts  how  dear ; 

Full  well  thou  knowst  the  vanity  of  earth — 
Thou  dost  not  seek  its  wealth,  nor  high  renown, 

Nor  taste  its  sparkling  cup  of  madd'ning  mirth ; 
But  in  the  sacred  use  of  life,  dost  strive 

To  serve  thy  country  and  thy  race.     Far  down 
The  ages,  shall  thy  name  in  memory  live. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

RE-ELECTION  OF  ME.  LINCOLN  PENDING — MR.  COLFAX 
NOT  PERMITTED  TO  WITHDRAW  FROM  NOMINATION  FOR 
CONGRESS — OPENING  SPEECH  OF  THE  CANVASS  AT 
PERU,  INDIANA. 

DURING  the  summer  and  fall  of  1864,  the  great 
political  contest  for  the  re-election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  sus 
taining  the  Government  in  its  war  with  the  rebellion  was? 
waged.  In  this  contest  Mr.  Colfax  took  an  active  and" 
earnest  part.  It  had  been  his  desire  to  withdraw  from 
Congressional  life.  He  had  frequently  expressed  such 
desire  to  his  constituents,  and  on  this  occasion  published 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  191 

a  card,  declining  a  renomination.  They  were,  "however, 
unwilling  to  consent.  Mr.  Colfax  yielding  to  their 
unanimous  nomination,  became  again  their  standard- 
bearer,  not  only  for  the  Congressional  but  national 
conflict.  His  opening  speech  for  the  canvass  was  made 
at  Peru,  Indiana,  August  20th.  Eeporters  were  on  the 
ground  from  Cincinnati  and  Chicago  to  report  it  for  the 
daily  papers  of  those  cities.  It  was  the  first  speech  of 
the  great  national  canvass  made  by  any  one  of  national 
reputation.  Its  theme  was,  "The  duty  of  standing  by 
the  Government."  It  was  plain,  forcible,  direct ;  free  from 
all  low  and  slang  phrases,  a  characteristic  feature  of  all 
of  Mr.  Colfax's  speeches.  Its  arguments  fell  like  grape 
and  canister  in  the  ranks  of  the  opponents  of  the  Gov 
ernment.  It  shows  the  character  of  the  opposition  to 
the  war,  and  brings  into  the  light  of  history  the  secret 
dangers  that  imperilled  the  country.  It  is  a  fair  speci 
men  of  the  oratory  of  Mr.  Colfax  upon  the  stump  and 
of  the  efficient  character  of  his  innumerable  campaign 
speeches.  It  is  not  in  as  fine  and  polished  a  style 
throughout  as  many  other  speeches  of  Mr.  Colfax ;  but 
as  Mr.  Lincoln  said  of  the  term  "sugar-coated,"  when 
requested  to  strike  it  out  of  one  of  his  messages  to  Con 
gress,  as  undignified,  that  the  people  would  understand 
it,  this  speech  was  understood  by  the  people  and  appre 
ciated  by  them.  It  confirmed  the  convictions  and  kindled 
the  enthusiasm  of  its  many  thousand  hearers.  It  was 
very  widely  read  and  esteemed  very  effective.  The  fol 
lowing  report  of  it  is  from  the  Cincinnati  Gazette: 

"STAND  BY  THE  GOVEKNMENT." 

"  Mr.  Colfax  has  just  begun  to  canvass  his  district  for 
re-election   to   Congress,  against  David   Turpie,  Peace 


192  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

Democrat,  whom  he  beat  in  1862,  when  the  Democracy 
swept  nearly  every  thing  before  it  in  his  State.  He 
preferred  to  retire  from  public  service,  but  his  constitu 
ents  insisting  upon  his  nomination  for  this  once  more,  in 
view  of  the  critical  condition  of  affairs  in  Indiana,  he 
accepted  the  nomination  as  an  obligation,  and  has 
resolved  on  performing  his  share  of  the  duty  necessary 
before  the  election,  as  he  does  every  thing,  thoroughly 
and  well. 

"The  following  speech,  relating  as  it  does  to  our 
national  affairs,  as  well  as  to  the  local  politics  of  Indi 
ana,  will  be  perused  with  interest  by  all  our  readers : 

" ME.  CHAIRMAN  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS:  lean  sum 
up  all  I  intend  to  say  this  afternoon  in  four  expressive 
words.  They  are,  'STAND  BY  THE  GOVERNMENT!' 
You  have  just  passed  a  resolution  tendering  thanks 
to  your  heroic  defenders  in  the  field;  and  never  in 
the  hour  of  our  country's  trial  were  its  defenders 
worthier  of  such  expressions  of  gratitude  from  those  for 
whom  they  suffer,  for  whom  they  fight,  and  for  whom 
they  fall.  But  if  you  believe  these  resolutions  in  your 
heart  of  hearts,  as  you  do,  you  will  send  to  them  in 
October  a  more  emphatic  resolution — a  resolution  com 
ing  from  the  ballot-box.  [Cheers.]  You  will  tell  them, 
that  as  they  confront  the  enemy  in  front  with  bullets, 
you  will  confront  the  sympathizers  and  abettors  of  their 
rebel  enemies  with  ballots  in  the  rear.  [Cheers.] 

"  When  I  say  to  you  '  stand  by  the  Government,'  I  give 
to  you  all  the  counsel  that  any  man  could  give  to  his 
fellow-men  in  an  hour  of  peril  like  this.  What  are  we 
without  Government  ?  It  is  Government  that  protects 
your  property,  for  without  Government  you  would  be 
on  a  shoreless  sea  of  anarchy,  and  your  nation  a  mass  of 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  193 

ruins ;  your  title-deeds  worthless  as  Confederate  scrip ; 
your  lives  at  the  mercy  of  midnight  assassins,  with 
guerillas  to  drive  you  from  your  homes,  and  light  up 
your  pathway  to  places  of  refuge  by  the  flames  of  your 
burning  dwellings.  Every  thing  that  is  sacred  and  dear 
to  us  is  protected  by  the  Government.  Yet  rebel  armies 
are  in  the  field  to-day.  What  for  ?  To  overthrow  and 
destroy  the  Government.  Union  armies  are  in  the  field. 
What  for  ?  To  protect  and  maintain  the  Government, 
and  save  the  country  from  national  destruction.  And 
yet,  up  and  down  the  highways  and  by-ways,  you  hear 
men  talking  about  'peace/  'crying  peace,  peace,  when 
there  is  no  peace.'  And  when  you  analyze  their  peace, 
what  is  it  ?  It  is  peace  with  the  rebels,  but  war  with 
your  Government  and  its  brave  defenders.  Know  you 
not  this  to  be  true  ?  Kead  the  platforms  adopted  by 
every  convention  calling  itself  Democratic  that  has 
recently  assembled.  What  are  they?  Condemnations 
of  the  treason  that  seeks  to  destroy  our  Government  ? 
Denunciations  of  the  war  upon  the  Union,  and  appeals 
to  their  followers  to  stand  as  one  man  around  our  im 
perilled  flag?  No,  none  of  that.  They  denounce  the 
way  the  war  is  managed  for  the  preservation  of  our 
nation,  but  not  one  word  against  the  way  the  war  is 
managed  for  the  destruction  of  the  Union.  Their  mouths 
are  filled  with  invective  against  your  Government,  that 
is  endeavoring  to  save  the  nation  from  disruption  and 
death.  To  this  contest  there  can  be  but  two  parties. 
The  one,  call  it  by  whatever  name  you  please,  are  rebel- 
haters,  and  I  am  one  of  these.  [Cheers.]  And  the  other, 
sugar-coat  it  as  you  may,  cover  it  with  some  respectable 
name  of  the  past,  are  rebel-helpers,  whose  arguments 
and  course  strengthen  the  rebellion,  and  weaken  the 


194  Life  of  Schuyler  Co  If  ax. 

power  of  the  Government  to  put  down  the  rebels.  Into 
these  two  great  associations  the  people  of  the  loyal 
States  are  necessarily  divided.  Choose  ye  this  day  on 
which  side  you  will  enroll  yourselves. 

"THE  FIEKY  TRIAL  OF  WAR. 

"We  have,  unhappily,  a  civil  war  in  this  country. 
We  had  hoped  to  escape  such  a  conflict  of  blood.  All 
other  nations  of  which  we  read  in  the  past  or  present 
have  had  to  pass  through  this  deep  red  sea  of  war,  to 
prove  their  strength  and  maintain  their  positions  in  the 
family  of  nations.  This  has  been  the  case  with  England, 
France,  Spain,  Kussia,  and  every  other  nation  in  the 
world.  They  have  had  to  prove  they  were  strong  enough 
to  put  down  foes  at  home  as  well  as  foes  abroad.  You 
had  hoped  you  were  to  be  spared  this  sad  affliction; 
for  we  of  this  nation  had  a  Government  felt  only  in  its 
blessings,  like  the  atmosphere  surrounding  you,  strength 
ening,  and  invigorating,  and  giving  life.  These  blessings 
were  poured  out  like  the  brimming  waters  of  the  rivers 
pouring  their  fulness  into  the  seas. 

"Now  how  changed  the  scene — and  why?  What 
right  of  any  one  has  been  stricken  down  ?  None,  by 
the  testimony  of  their  own  rebel  Yice-President  Stephens, 
given  in  the  Georgia  Convention.  Their  rights  had 
been  guarded,  instead  of  destroyed.  They  had  had  the 
Government  of  our  country  mainly  in  their  own  hands, 
but  they  had  determined  to  overthrow  it  when  they 
could  no  longer  rule  it.  That  was  their  intention  at  first, 
and  when  at  last  it  burst  like  a  thunder-eloud  upon  the 
land,  your  President,  sworn  by  his  oath  to  maintain  the 
laws,  the  Constitution,  and  the  integrity  of  the  Union, 
drew  the  sword  and  called  upon  you,  not  for  a  war  of 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  195 

offence  and  aggression,  not  for  a  war  of  hate  and  malig 
nity,  but  to  rally  around  your  country  in  a  war  of  self- 
preservation.     And  for  having  thus  appealed  to  you  to^ 
maintain   your    banner   against    every   odds,    steadily  | 
preserving  the  sanctity  of  his  oath,  and  keeping  before  • 
him  as  his  duty,  the  maintenance  of  the  nation — for 
having,  like  Varro,  never  despaired  of  the  Republic — he 
is  covered  with   invective   and  vituperation  by  those 
among  us  whose  sympathies  are  with  the  country's  ene 
mies  instead  of  its  friends. 

"  Who  is  your  President  ?  He  is  a  man  selected  to 
stand  for,  and  speak,  and  act,  in  behalf  of  the  imperilled 
nation.  He  is  the  arm  of  your  country,  by  which  it 
strikes  enemies  abroad  as  well  as  at  home.  And  is  not 
the  man  who  seeks  to  weaken  his  power,  to  sow  discord 
and  opposition  to  him,  imperilling  his  power  and  strength 
ening  the  foe  ?  I  ask  if  that  man  is  not  responsible  for 
the  bloodshed  and  devastation  of  this  war?  On  the 
contrary,  is  not  the  path  plain  for  every  patriot  ?  Is  it 
not  to  stand  by  the  President,  for  the  Government's 
protection  ?  You  can  no  more  fight  the  battles  for  the 
preservation  of  the  country  without  standing  by  the 
President  than  you  can  fight  the  battles  in  the  field 
successfully  without  standing  by  the  General  command 
ing  the  army.  And  so  far  as  you  strengthen  the  arm  of 
the  President,  so  far  as  you  give  it  power,  energy,  and 
force,  by  rallying  around  him  and  sustaining  his  hands, 
as  Aaron  upheld  the  hands  of  Moses  in  the  wilderness, 
so  far  you  give  strength  to  the  power  of  your  country 
in  this  trying  crisis. 

"WHO   AND   WHAT  ARE   DEMOCRATS? 

"  1  wish  to  read,  in  your  hearing  to-day,  a  resolution 


196  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

of  the  convention  which  nominated  my  competitor  for 
Congress.  But,  before  doing  it,  let  me  say  that  I  do  not 
charge  upon  all  Democrats  that  they  are  false  to  their 
country.  Many  thousands  of  them  have  thrown  off  the 
shackles  of  party,  and  stand,  not  only  in  civil  but  in  mili 
tary  life,  for  the  maintenance  of  *  the  banner  of  beauty 
and  glory.'  There  stands  Butler,  a  Democrat  of  the 
olden  time.  But  when  he  is  willing  to  give  his  life  for 
the  Republic — no  sooner  does  he  leave  his  party  than  he 
is  denounced  by  those  whom  he  has  left ;  and  they  quote 
every  malignant  denunciation  of  the  rebels  against  him, 
and  *  Butler  the  beast'  is  the  favorite  epithet  they  apply 
to  him.  So,  too,  General  Dix,  and  many  other  dis 
tinguished  Democrats,  besides  those  in  this  State,  your 
Hovey  and  others,  who  have  shown  their  devotion  to 
their  country,  are  not  regarded  in  good  political  stand 
ing.  So,  too,  with  Stanton,  Governor  Wright,  and 
Dumont  and  Holt,  and  Cathcart  of  your  own  district. 
But  no  sooner  do  they  step  out  and  rally  under  the  stars 
and  stripes  than  they  are  denounced  as  Abolitionists,  for 
the  purpose  of  weakening  and  destroying  their  influence 
among  those  with  whom  they  formerly  associated.  But 
while  this  has  been  the  case,  I  will  lay  down  three 
propositions  here,  and  no  man,  whether  editor  of  your 
Democratic  paper,  or  your  public  speakers,  will  chal 
lenge  the  truth  of  either  of  them : 

"  1.  Every  man  who  is  a  leader  in  the  rebellion  in  the 
South,  as  President,  Yice- President,  member  of  the 
Cabinet,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  the 
heads  of  their  armies,  every  one  of  them  is  a  Democrat 
of  the  olden  time.  [Great  cheers.] 

"  2.  Every  man  they  relied  upon  in  the  North,  when 
they  drew  the  sword  of  treason  against  their  country, 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  197 

and  raised  their  banner,  red  with  blood,  is  a  Democratic 
leader  to-day. 

u  3.  The  administration  that  was  in  power  when  the 
rebellion  broke  out,  which  could,  by  prompt  and  vigor 
ous  means,  have  crushed  it  out  in  its  infancy,  as  Jackson 
crushed  out  nullification  and  treason  in  South  Carolina 
thirty  years  ago — that  administration  which  looked  on 
with  closed  eyes  and  ears,  allowing  the  rebellion  to  go 
on,  and  doing  not  one  thing  to  save  the  Union  from  de 
struction,  was  in  all  its  parts  Democratic.  [Cheers.] 

"  And  further :  every  man  that  stood  up  in  Congress 
in  that  dark  winter,  when  State  after  State  was  seceding, 
and  said,  'No  coercion — you  cannot  coerce  a  sovereign 
State — they  may  talk  treason  here  in  the  Capitol  as 
much  as  they  please,  and  draw  the  sword  of  rebellion 
in  the  face  of  the  Government  without  hindrance' — every 
one  was  a  Democrat.  And  yet  they  talk  about  this 
being  a  Lincoln  war  1 

"REPLY  TO  THE   VALPARAISO   RESOLUTION'S. 

"  I  wish  now  to  read  the  twelfth  resolution  of  the  con 
vention  which,  in  July  last,  nominated  my  competitor. 
And  I  will  say  here  that  my  speech  to-day  will  be  un 
like  his ;  it  will  not  be  filled  with  abuse  and  denunciation 
of  him,  as  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  denouncing  a  com 
petitor  behind  his  back.  As  to  discussing  the  questions 
before  the  country  in  a  debate  with  him,  I  have  told  him 
that,  whenever  he  desired  a  joint  canvass,  I  will  accept 
it.  I  never  challenge  a  competitor,  but  always  accept 
all  challenges  given  me.  At  any  rate,  I  shall  not  imitate 
a  bad  example  by  denouncing  him. 

"  This  convention  of  his,  after  passing  a  variety  of 

resolutions  against  the  Government  and  denouncing  the 
12 


ig8  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

war,  passed  the  following,  in  reference  to  an  individual 
of  whom  you  have  some  knowledge : 

"  '  12.  That  Schuyler  Colfax,  for  his  attempt  to  abridge 
the  right  of  free  discussion  in  the  halls  of  Congress,  his 
base  subserviency  to  the  reigning  despotism  at  Wash 
ington  in  its  attempts  to  destroy  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  the  people,  manifested  by  his  justification  of  the  sup 
pression  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  the  arbitrary  arrests 
of  unoffending  citizens,  the  emancipation  proclamation, 
the  placing  of  negroes  on  an  equality  with  white  men, 
by  arming  and  incorporating  them  into  the  army,  the 
confiscation  of  property  without  notice  of  legal  process, 
and  the  interference  of  the  Federal  Government  with  the 
internal  affairs  of  the  several  States,  merits  the  reproba 
tion  of  an  indignant  and  outraged  people ;  and  having 
shown  himself  unworthy  the  confidence  of  a  free  people 
by  his  betrayal  of  their  dearest  rights,  we  hereby 
solemnly  pledge  ourselves  to  the  most  energetic  and 
unceasing  efforts  to  secure  his  defeat  at  the  ensuing 
election.' 

"FKEEDOM  OF  SPEECH  IN  CONGRESS. 

"  The  first  issue,  '  his  attempt  to  abridge  the  right  of 
free  discussion  in  the  halls  of  Congress,'  I  accept,  and 
say,  before  discussing  the  point,  that  I  stand  here  not  as 
the  result  of  my  own  choice.  Having  been  honored  by 
your  votes  with  a  seat  in  the  halls  of  the  national  Con 
gress  for  many  successive  terms,  I  would  have  been 
only  too  willing  to  retire  and  let  you  select  some  one 
else  among  you  to  fill  that  position.  But  when  you  in 
sisted  I  must  once  more  accept,  and  having  asked  others 
to  accept  more  perilous  positions,  I  could  not  refuse.  I 
come  not  here,  however,  to  ask  your  votes  for  any  mere 
personal  considerations ;  for  what  are  men,  and  private 
interests,  in  times  like  these  ?  I  come  here  to  appeal  to 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  199 

you  to  stand  by  your  country  and  your  soldiers  in  the 
field.  If  my  political  grave  was  yawning  before  me,  I 
would  have  accepted  the  duty  assigned  me,  with  the 
same  determination  as  now  to  do  my  duty,  and  to  say  to 
you  that  the  first,  second,  and  last  duty  of  every  man  at 
this  time  is,  to  stand  by  your  Government. 

"  This  resolution  charges  me  with  attempting  to  abridge 
the  right  of  free  discussion.  That  is,  because  I  dared, 
when  the  Confederate  flag  was  virtually  unfurled  in  the 
halls  of  Congress,  and  heard  a  Representative  from  Ohio 
declare  that  your  Constitution  was  dead,  your  Republic 
destroyed,  that  the  men  who  took  the  amnesty  oath  were 
justified  in  disregarding  it — when  I  heard  these  things, 
I  made  up  my  mind  that  he  should  receive,  if  possible, 
the  condemnation  of  the  American  Congress.  [Great 
applause.]  I  have  no  regrets  to  offer  for  that  act.  I 
reflected  on  the  matter  before  offering  the  resolution ; 
and,  though  Speaker  of  the  House,  I  saw  no  reason  why 
that  should  prevent  me  doing  a  duty  that  lay  before  me. 
If  I  had  supposed  any  man  would  have  insisted  that 
because  Speaker  I  had  no  right  to  stand  by  my  country, 
on  the  floors  of  Congress  as  well  as  elsewhere,  I  would 
not  have  accepted  the  position.  I  was  sent  there  to 
speak  and  vote  for  the  people  of  this  District,  and  have 
learned  never  to  shirk  a  duty  that  it  seemed  imperative 
for  me  to  perform. 

"Let  me  read  to  you  something  of  this  free  speech 
which  is  so  sanctified  and  endorsed  by  the  convention 
at  Valparaiso.  Said  Mr.  Long :  '  There  is  not  one  single 
vestige  of  the  Constitution  remaining?  That  is  of  our 
own  Constitution.  And  if  there  is  not,  what  is  there 
left  in  this  land  that  holds  us  together  as  a  Government  ? 
Why  none  but  the  Montgomery  constitution,  the  traitors' 


2oo  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

constitution.  It  is  the  only  one  remaining  upon  the 
American  soil.  But  this  was  not  all.  He  goes  on  to 
say  that  his  'convictions  of  the  complete  overthrow  of  the 
Government  are  as  unwelcome  and  unpleasant  to  me  as 
to  any  one  in  the  House ' — declaring  that  your  Govern 
ment  was  completely  overthrown.  'I  shall  not  refer,' 
said  he,  '  to  the  controversy  as  to  who  is  responsible  for 
the  destruction  of  our  Government.1  And  this  was  pro 
claimed  by  a  man  who  had  recently  taken  an  oath  that 
he  would  stand  by  the  Constitution  and  the  Union,  and 
not  give  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies  against  it. 

"He  said,  furthermore,  'so  it  will  be  with  the  man 
who  is  forced  to  take  the  amnesty  oath  to  save  himself 
and  family.  He  may  take  it,  but  in  his  heart  he  will  de 
spise  the  authority  that  requires  it.1  Could  there  be  more 
said  to  encourage  the  rebels  to  go  on  in  their  work  of 
destruction  ?  Further  he  says : 

"'What  our  people  desired  in  1861,  and  which  I 
honored,  though  regarded  as  mistaken,  was  the  preserva 
tion  of  the  Government,  and  the  retention  of  our  jurisdic 
tion  of  the  whole  territory.' 

"  And  yet,  in  1863,  though  he  thus  declares  he  was 
not  for  the  preservation  of  the  Government,  he  took  an 
oath  as  a  member  to  stand  by  the  Constitution.  I  said 
he  was  an  unworthy  member  of  that  Congress,  and  the 
majority  of  the  House  of  Kepresentatives  agreed  with 
rne  and  voted  for  the  resolution.  I  stand  by  that  reso 
lution  to-day.  They  say  it  was  an  attempt  to  abridge 
the  right  of  free  discussion.  How  suddenly  they  become 
converts  to  the  right  of  free  discussion !  There  was, 
some  years  ago,  a  member  from  that  same  State  of  Ohio, 
Mr.  Giddings,  who  offered  a  resolution  in  regard  to  the 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  201 

Creole  case,  and  the  right  to  hold  slaves  on  the  high 
seas  under  our  State  laws.  And  this  same  party  that  is 
now  so  careful  of  the  right  of  free  discussion  in  favor 
of  traitors,  and  who  affirm  on  the  floors  of  Congress  that 
your  Government  is  dead,  these  men  by  a  party  vote  of 
censure,  drove  that  member  from  his  seat.  They  were 
not  so  much  in  love  with  free  discussion  then.  A  few 
years  ago  a  Massachusetts  Senator  was  struck  down  in 
the  Capitol  by  one  of  this  party,  two  Eepresentatives  of 
the  lower  house  performing  and  abetting  the  act,  the 
intention  being  to  murder  him,  but  they  failed  in  the 
attempt.  And  when  a  resolution  was  introduced  to  cen 
sure  and  expel  these  men  for  the  brutal  act,  not  simply 
a  resolution  expressing  the  views  of  Congress  as  to  a 
certain  speech,  but  for  the  infamous  outrage  upon  a  fel 
low-member,  every  one  of  that  party  voted  against  ex 
pulsion.  But  when  it  has  come  that  free  speech,  in  their 
view,  means  the  advocacy  of  treason,  then  they  go  to 
Valparaiso  and  pass  a  resolution  throwing  the  shield  of 
their  protection  over  such  men. 

"  There  was  another  man  in  the  House  of  Eepresent 
atives — Harris,  of  Maryland — wtio  said  in  that  debate, 
'All  the  South  ask  of  you  is  to  let  them  live  in  peace; 
but  no,  you  say  you  will  bring  them  into  subjugation. 
But  it  is  not  done  yet,  and  God  grant  it  never  may  be 
done.1  And  when  he  thus  appealed  to  God  to  render 
victorious  the  armies  of  the  South  in  this  conspiracy,  he 
was  allowed  to  retain  his  seat  there,  and  draw  money 
out  of  your  treasury,  paid  in  by  your  taxes,  by  the  votes 
of  those  Democratic  members  who  said  we  cannot  inter 
fere  with  free  speech.  It  was  then  that  I  thought  the 
time  had  arrived  when  Congress  should  express  its  ab- 


2O2  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

horrence  of  such  treasonable  language,  and  I  am  willing 
to  accept  the  issue  made  against  me  in  reference  to  it. 

"DESPOTISM  AT  WASHINGTON". 

"The  next  count  in  the  indictment  is  'base  subser-' 
viencj  to  the  reigning  despotism  at  Washington.'  They 
call  your  administration,  which  is  struggling  to  save  the 
life  of  the  nation,  a  'reigning  despotism!'  Where  did 
they  find  such  language  ?  It  is  the  language  used  by 
that  chief  of  traitors,  Jeff.  Davis.  How  could  they  aid 
the  rebel  cause  more  effectually  than  by  such  language  ? 
If  they  could  make  your  soldiers  believe  it,  they  would 
lay  down  their  arms  and  let  their  country  be  destroyed. 
It  is  because  your  soldiers  know  how  false  all  this  is, 
that  they  stand  there  still,  not  despairing,  but  with  their 
hearts  full  of  hope  that  final  triumph  over  all  their 
country's  foes  await  them.  When  the  rebels  read  this 
it  will  give  them  fresh  hope,  and  they  will  be  nerved 
thereby  to  bitterer  hostility.  When  it  goes  abroad,  and 
is  read  beyond  the  ocean,  will  it  not  help  to  strengthen 
their  cause  there  up  to  that  point  of  recognition,  of  which 
there  has  been  so  much  danger  ? 

" '  His  base  subserviency !'  What  have  I  done  to 
deserve  this  charge  ?  My  crime  is,  that  I  have  stood  by 
your  President,  the  administration,  and  the  armies  of 
the  country,  in  every  attempt  to  put  down  the  rebellion, 
and,  God  helping  me,  there  I  shall  stand  to  the  end. 

"SUSPENSION  OF  THE  HABEAS  COKPUS. 

"  'In  its  attempts  to  destroy  the  rights  and  liberties  of- 
the  people,  manifested  by  his  justification  of  the  sup 
pression  of  the  habeas  corpus? 

"  I  do  justify  the  suppression  of  that  writ,  and  we  have 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax.  203 

illustrious  examples  of  its  suppression  in  the  past  history 
of  the  Government  We  have  the  indorsement  of  it  by 
the  Democratic  party,  when  that  name  meant  something 
different  from  what  it  does  to-day.  What  says  your  Con 
stitution  ?  It  is  so  plain  that  no  school-boy  can  fail  to 
understand  it.  '  The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus 
shall  not  be  suspended,  except  when  in  time  of  insurrec 
tion  or  invasion  the  public  safety  shall  require  it.'  And 
the  President  who  would  not  suspend  this  writ,  when  the 
safety  of  the  nation  demands  it,  is  a  traitor  in  his  heart. 
It  is  the  President's  imperative  duty  to  do  every  thing 
that  is  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  his  imperilled 
land.  You  shoot  a  deserter  who  leaves  your  army,  and 
is  your  Government  to  be  powerless  against  the  man 
who  by  his  speeches  and  letters  encourages  that  poor 
boy  to  desert  ?  They  say  you  must  have  the  case  come 
before  the  judges  of  the  courts.  How  would  it  have 
been  in  Maryland,  when  Marshal  Kane  and  his  con 
federates  blocked  up  your  way  to  the  Federal  capital, 
and  telegraphed  for  more  rebels  to  come  down  from  the 
mountains  of  Maryland  and  murder  your  soldiers? 
Suppose  they  had  taken  him  before  some  disloyal 
judges;  they,  holding  like  views  with  him  in  regard  to 
the  Federal  authorities,  would  have  released  him,  and 
he  would  only  have  renewed  his  outrages.  But  the 
President  arbitrarily  arrested  him,  as  he  ought  to  have 
done.  The  only  complaint  I  have*to  make  against  the 
President  is,  that  he  has  been  too  lenient  instead  of  too 
severe.  Look  back  to  the  time  of  Jefferson,  the  father 
of  the  old  Democratic  party.  In  the  Burr  conspiracy, 
he,  by  military  power,  when  the  country  was  at  peace, 
with  no  armies  upon  its  soil  threatening  the  existence 
of  our  Government,  arrested  the  supposed  conspirators, 


2O4  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

brought  them  to  Washington,  and  held  them  there 
under  the  eyes  of  the  United  States  courts,  and  the 
Democratic  party  said  Amen,  and  gave  the  proceedings 
their  support.  So  in  1812,  when  Jackson,  not  as  Presi 
dent,  but  as  commander  of  a  military  department,  sus 
pended  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  He  arrested  a  judge 
and  the  lawyer  who  counselled  the  issuing  of  the  writ, 
and  held  them  within  his  military  lines;  and  when 
peace  was  declared,  he  kicked  them  outside  his  camp. 
What  said  the  Democratic  party  about  that?  More 
than  all  things  else  he  had  ever  done,  it  helped  to  make 
him  President  of  the  United  States,  and  properly 
enough  too.  And  if  Jackson  had  been  President  in 
1860-61,  he  would  have  arrested  these  traitors  in  tbo 
halls  of  Congress,  and  would  have  attacked  Charleston 
when  the  first  secession  convention  was  in  session  there. 
[Cheers.]  The  whole  Democratic  party  in  Congress 
worked  for  years,  until  they  refunded  to  Jackson  the 
fine  imposed  upon  him  by  the  court  for  the  arrest  of 
that  judge. 

"More  than  this,  George  B.  McClellan,  when  com 
manding  your  armies  in  the  Bast,  himself  arrested,  not 
mere  citizens,  but  the  Legislature  of  the  'sovereign 
State  of  Maryland/  who  were  about  to  pass  an  ordi 
nance  of  secession.  You  know  that  with  their  peculiar 
notions,  learned  from  Calhoun,  about  following  a  State, 
if  that  State  had  passed  an  ordinance  of  secession  it 
would  have  been  doubly  dimcult  to  have  saved  Maryland 
and  your  Capital  besides.  But  McClellan  arrested  the 
disloyal  majority  of  that  Legislature,  and  locked  them 
up  in  Fort  McHenry  till  their  term  expired.  Yet,  in 
the  eyes  of  these  gentlemen,  McClellan  is  a  patriot. 


Life  of  Schuyler  Colfax.  205 

while  Lincoln,  who  has  not  done  an  act  half  as  severe 
as  this,  is  denounced  as  a  -"reigning  despot.' 

"AKREST   OF   UNOFFENDING   CITIZENS. 

"The  resolution  further  charges  the  administration 
with  sustaining  the  'arbitrary  arrest  of  unoffending 
citizens,'  and  denounces  me  for  indorsing  it.  What, 
'  unoffending1  citizens  ?  Men  who  are  secretly  plotting 
treason  against  your  Government,  giving  aid  and  com 
fort  to  the  enemy.  President  Lincoln  did  not  hang 
them,  but  locked  them  up  where  they  would  be  power 
less  for  evil.  How  is  it  they  have  so  much  sympathy 
for  these  sympathizers  and  traitors,  unless  they  are 
jointly  interested  with  them  in  their  work  ? 

"THE  EMANCIPATION  POLICY. 

"  The  next  thing  in  the  charges  is  my  justification  of 
the  Emancipation  Proclamation.  I  did,  and  do  still, 
indorse  it.  Slavery  had  proved  itself  the  strong  arm  of 
this  rebellion.  It  was  slavery  that  gave  rise  to  this  con 
spiracy  at  first;  it  was  slavery  that  gave  strength  to  their 
armi-es  in  the  outset,  and  it  is  slavery  that  has  sustained 
its  armies  in  the  field  during  all  the  war,  by  their  labor 
on  the  plantations  at  home,  as  well  as  in  camp,  in 
their  ditches  and  on  their  fortifications.  It  was  slavery 
that  created  the  fortifications  from  behind  which  the 
death-dealing  guns  of  rebels  carried  the  messengers  of 
death  to  your  brothers  and  sons,  and  mourning  to  many 
of  your  households.  It  is  slavery  that  has  loaded  you 
with  taxes  and  filled  your  graveyards;  and  it  consti 
tutes  the  sinews  and  strength  of  the  rebellion  still,  so> 
far  as  it  has  not  been  destroyed. 

"  Mr.  Lincoln  tried  for  eighteen  months  to  save  the 


206  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

Union  and  slavery  with  it.  His  Generals  returned  fugi 
tive  slaves;  they  repulsed  from  their  armies  fleeing 
negroes  that  came  to  them  with  valuable  information ; 
they  guarded  rebel  property  from  molestation  as 
sacredly  as  they  would  have  protected  their  own.  The 
President  pursued  a  kind  and  tender  policy  to  the 
last  moment  it  was  practicable,  hoping  the  disunion- 
ists  might  be  turned  aside  from  their  determination. 
And  when  at  last  he  became  convinced  that  the  Union 
and  slavery  could  not  be  saved  together,  he  gave  them 
one  hundred  days'  warning,  and  said,  '  If  you  will  not 
lay  down  your  arms,  and  return  to  your  allegiance  to 
the  Constitution  and  laws  of  your  Government,  and 
cease  murdering  Union  soldiers,  I  will,  when  the  one 
hundred  days  expire,  strike  with  the  battle-axe  of  the 
war-power  your  slave  system.'  The  one  hundred  days 
expired  without  acceptance  of  the  terms,  and  he  then 
allowed  negro  soldiers  to  be  incorporated  into  the 
army,  and  issued  the  Proclamation.  And  yet,  these 
Northern  abettors  of  secession  denounce  it.  They 
seem  to  have  more  care  for  the  salvation  of  slavery 
than  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 

"  NEGRO  EQUALITY  AND  CONFISCATION. 

"They  go  on,  in  their  resolution,  and  say:  'The 
placing  of  negroes  on  an  equality  with  white  men,  by 
arming  and  incorporating  them  into  the  army.'  I  plead 
guilty  to  that,  too.  I  am  in  favor  of  employing  every 
means  within  our  reach  to  put  down  this  rebellion — but 
of  this  I  will  speak  presently. 

"'The  confiscation  of  property  without  notice  of 
legal  process.'  Again  we  see  their  tender  solicitude 
about  these  rebels ;  for,  if  anybody's  property  has  been 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  207 

confiscated,  it  has  been  that  of  the  rebels,  with  their 
hands  dyed  in  the  blood  of  loyal  citizens  and  patriots, 
seeking  to  violate  their  oaths  in  the  past,  that  they  may 
find  with  surer  certainty  the  nation's  heart  with  the 
dagger's  point.  They  object  that  their  property  has 
been  confiscated  without  notice  of  legal  process.  Sup 
pose  we  had  tried  that  process,  and  sent  down  your 
United  States  Marshal  to  notify  Gov.  Letcher  that  we 
were  going  to  confiscate  his  property,  how  would  he 
come  back  ?  A  head  shorter,  if  he  came  back  at  all. 
Remember  that  no  confiscation  bill  was  passed  by  the 
Federal  Congress  until  a  year  after  the  rebels  passed  an 
act  confiscating  every  dollar  of  Union  property  in  the 
South.  Wherever  Union  men  could  be  found,  their 
farms,  city  property,  stocks,  personal  effects,  all  were 
swept  into  the  coffers  of  Jeff.  Davis.  After  persisting 
in  this  work  for  a  year,  and  driving  Union  men 
by  hundreds  from  their  homes,  then,  only  following 
their  example,  Congress  passed  this  confiscation  act 
which  so  much  excites  the  indignation  of  these  men 
of  Valparaiso. 

"  After  having  indorsed  all  this,  they  say  that  Schuy- 
lar  Colfax  '  merits  the  reprobation  of  an  indignant  and 
outraged  people.'  I  have  thought,  as  I  looked  into  your 
faces  here  to-day,  that  there  were  a  good  many  of  you 
who  did  not  feel  very  indignant  at  my  course  against 
traitors.  [Cheers.]  I  have  no  more  fears  of  going 
before  the  people  this  fall,  upon  the  issues  made  by 
that  convention,  than  when  at  other  times  you  have 
elected  me  your  Representative.  [A  voice,  '  We'll  elect 
you  again,  too.']  I  hope  you  will,  but  I  hope  far  more 
than  that,  that  our  country  will  be  preserved  and  the 
Government  sustained. 


208  Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax. 

"  '  "We  hereby  pledge  ourselves  to  the  most  energetic 
and  unceasing  efforts  to  secure  his  defeat.'  They  need 
not  have  put  that  in ;  you  knew  it  before  they  resolved 
it;  they  have  always  heretofore  done  so,  and  nobody 
doubts  that  they  will  redouble  their  efforts  this  fall. 

"  CHURCHES   AND   SCHOOLS   THE    CAUSES   OF   THE  WAR. 

"I  now  come  to  another  resolution  of  the  Valparaiso 
Democratic  platform : 

" '  2.  That  the  present  civil  war  is  the  legitimate  re 
sult  of  the  teachings  and  blasting  influences  of  Aboli 
tionism,  which  has  been  sown  broadcast  through  church 
and  school  for  the  past  quarter  of  a  century,  until  the 
doctrine  of  an  irrepressible  conflict  has  become  the  faith 
and  corner-stone  of  a  great  sectional  party.' 

"This  resolution  is  plainly,  palpably,  undisguisedly 
a  deliberate  attempt  to  relieve  the  would-be  murderers 
of  their  country's  liberty  from  the  guilt  of  having 
themselves  brought  on  this  civil  war.  It  is  saying  to 
the  rebels :  You  have  been  right  in  taking  up  arms ;  the 
crime  is  in  these  churches  and  schools,  which  have 
brought  the  war  upon  the  country. 

"But  here  is  another  resolution  that  was  passed  in 
Congress,  in  July,  1861,  with  but  two  dissenting  votes, 
the  Crittenden  Resolution.  This  famous  resolution, 
fully  answers  this  Valparaiso  resolution,  for  it  says : 
'  This  deplorable  war  has  been  forced  upon  the  country 
by  the  disunionists  of  the  Southern  States,  now  in 
revolt  against  the  Constitutional  Government,  and  in 
arms  around  the  Capital.'  If  this  be  true,  and  you  know 
it  is,  then  the  other  is  false.  The  one  says  this  war  was 
brought  on  by  the  Southern  disunionists;  the  other  says 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax.  209 

it  was  brought  on  by  the  teachings  of  Abolitionists  in 
church  and  school.  Choose  ye  between  J;hem,  for  by 
your  votes  you  are  to  affirm  the  one  or  the  other. 

"Again:  Here  is  the  testimony  of  a  man  who  was 
'the  Ajax  Telamon  of  his  party  in  the  day  in  which  he 
lived,  who  declares,  in  the  last  speech  he  ever  made,  at 
Chicago,  in  June,  1861 

"'  The  slave  question  is  a  mere  excuse.  The  election  of 
Lincoln  a  mere  pretext.  The  present  secession  move 
ment  is  the  result  of  an  enormous  conspiracy,  formed 
more  than  a  year  since — formed  by  leaders  in  the 
Southern  Confederacy  more  than  twelve  months  ago. 
But  this  is  no  time  for  detail  of  causes.  The  conspiracy 
is  now  known ;  armies  have  been  raised,  war  is  levied  to 
accomplish  it.  There  are  only  two  sides  to  the  question. 
Every  man  must  be  for  the  United  States  or  against  it. 
There  can  be  no  neutrals  in  this  war — only  patriots  or 
traitors.' 

"Now,  Douglas  meant  what  he  said  there;  and  I 
believe  that  the  men  who  rise  up  after  his  death  and  say 
that  this  war  was  not  commenced  by  the  disunionists  of 
the  South,  but  was  the  work  of  the  Abolitionists  of  the 
North,  deliberately  attempt  to  deceive  the  people,  and 
prove  themselves  worthy  of  the  condemnation  his  lan 
guage  pronounces  against  them. 

"A  TKUE   SKETCH   OF  THE  WAR. 

"Need  I  go  briefly  over  the  facts  of  the  history  of 
this  war?  These  men  charge  that  this  war  was  brought 
upon  us  by  Northern  Abolitionists.  Why,  when  they 
were  down  at  their  Charleston  Convention,  in  1860, 
what  did  we  see  ?  They  were  there  in  a  family  party 
with  the  rebel  leaders,  and  what  did  those  traitors  say 
to  their  fellow -Democrats  of  the  North?  They  said,  we 


2io  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

demand  two  things;  give  us  them,  and  you  can  have 
peace;  if  not,  we  will  divide  the  party  first,  and  the 
country  afterwards.  The  first  thing  was  to  throw 
Douglas  overboard ;  and  the  second  was,  give  us  a 
slavery  protection  platform.  The  Northern  men  refused 
to  yield  to  their  demands.  Why  didn't  they  throw 
Douglas  overboard,  and  give  them  some  guarantee  for 
the  protection  of  slavery?  If  they  were  so  fond  of 
compromise  and  concession,  why  didn't  they  give  these 
Southern  men  all  they  asked?  They  had  it  in  their 
power  to  keep  their  party  united,  but  they  voluntarily 
broke  it  up.  The  result  was,  that  the  day  after  Lincoln's 
election  over  their  thus  divided  party,  these  Democratic 
leaders  raised  their  rebellious  flag  in  Charleston  and 
lit  the  torch  of  civil  war  in  the  land ;  and  in  doing  that, 
they  lit,  too,  the  funeral-pyre  of  slavery. 

"  There  was  the  President,  charged  with  the  duty  of 
saving  your  nation.  What  did  he,  James  Buchanan,  do 
for  his  country  ?  He  sat  there,  looking  on  with  closed 
eyes,  refusing  to  lift  a  finger  to  put  down  the  rebellion ; 
and  it  went  on  gathering  strength.  State  after  State 
went  out  of  the  Union  by  their  secession  ordinances. 
Senators  and  Kepresentatives  left  Congress  with  words 
of  treason  on  their  lips,  going  South.  They  held  their 
Confederate  election  while  Buchanan  was  still  President ; 
and  on  the  18th  of  February,  two  weeks  before  Lincoln's 
inauguration,  they  installed  Jeff.  Davis  in  his  seat,  and 
the  rebel  Congress  assembled.  Then  they  called  for 
'thirty  thousand  men  to  form  their  army,  when  you  had 
six  thousand,  all  told.  All  over  the  South  they  took 
your  forts,  custom-houses,  mints  and  money,  and  tore 
down  your  flag.  All  this  was  done  in  Buchanan's 
administration. 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  211 

"  Nor  is  this  all.  You  have  read  the  history  of  civil 
war  in  other  countries,  but  you  never  before  heard  of 
one  so  atrocious  as  this,  in  this  particular,  that  when 
these  men  were  striking  at  the  existence  of  their  own 
nation,  your  chief  officers  of  State,  installed  in  the 
highest  places  of  trust  and  profit  in  the  cabinet  of  your 
country,  gave  them  direct  aid  in  their  work  of  destruc 
tion.  Look  at  that  rebel  cabinet,  as  week  after  week 
it  assembled,  with  Buchanan  in  their  midst.  There  was 
Howell  Cobb,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  who  went  to 
New  York  professedly  to  borrow  money,  and  told  the 
leading  financiers  that  the  country  was  tumbling  into 
ruins,  that  he  believed  the  unity  of  your  country  was 
then  at  an  end ;  the  consequence  of  which  was,  that  at 
the  end  of  Buchanan's  administration,  when  they  sought 
to  borrow  five  million  dollars,  there  was  offered  but  two 
million,  and  for  that  twelve  per  cent,  interest  was  de 
manded. 

"  Next  was  Floyd,  Secretary  of  War,  who,  all  through 
1860,  was  preparing  for  this  work  of  rebellion,  by  ship 
ping  the  arms,  paid  for  by  you,  down  South,  and  filling 
the  arsenals  in  the  South  with  munitions  of  war.  The 
very  guns  that  murdered  your  soldiers  in  the  opening 
of  the  war,  were  guns  paid  for  by  your  taxes,  and 
bought  for  your  defence.  More  than  this,  he  scattered 
your  armies  so  that  Mr.  Lincoln,  when  he  came  into 
office,  would  be  powerless  for  the  defence  of  the  Govern 
ment.  One-fourth  of  the  army  was  in  Texas,  where  the 
traitor  Twiggs  surrendered  them ;  but,  to  the  honor  of 
your  private  soldiers  be  it  said,  that  though  they  were 
tempted  with  every  inducement  to  forsake  their  loyalty 
to  the  Government,  and  threatened  with  starvation  if 
they  did  not,  they  steadfastly  refused.  Though  im- 


i  T  2  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

prisoned  for  fifteen  months,  there  was  not  a  private 
soldier  who  would  turn  his  back  upon  his  country. 
[Great  applause  and  cheers.]  Regiments  were  sent  to 
California  and  elsewhere,  so  that  Mr.  Lincoln  could  not 
find  two  regiments,  when  necessary,  for  the  protection  of 
the  Capital. 

11  There  was  also  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Isaac 
Toucey.  He  scattered  your  navy  to  the  China  seas 
and  to  the  East  Indies,  where  they  would  be  out  of  the 
reach  of  the  new  administration ;  and  the  day  he  went 
out  of  office,  Lincoln  could  not  find  a  single  frigate, 
except  the  Brooklyn,  and  it  was  found  that  she  drew 
too  much  water  to  enter  Charleston  harbor.  If  there  is 
a  man  who  doubts  this,  let  him  read  from  Buchanan's 
message  of  January,  1861 : 

"  *  Even  now  the  danger  is  upon  us.  In  several  of  the 
States  which  have  not  seceded,  the  forts,  arsenals,  and 
magazines  of  the  United  States  have  been  seized.  This 
is  by  far  the  most  serious  step  which  has  been  taken 
since  the  commencement  of  the  troubles.  This  public 
property  has  long  been  left  without  garrisons  and  troops 
for  its  protection,  because  no  person  doubted  its  security 
under  the  flag  of  the  country  in  any  State  of  the  Union. 
Besides,  our  small  army  has  scarcely  been  sufficient  to 
guard  our  remote  frontiers  against  Indian  incursions. 
The  seizure  of  this  property,  from  all  appearances,  has 
been  purely  aggressive,  and  not  in  resistance  to  any 
attempt  to  coerce  a  State  or  States  to  remain  in  the 
Union.' 

"  Mr.  Buchanan  acknowledges  it  was  aggressive,  and 
not  defensive ;  and  yet  he  saw  preparations  for  this  un-  - 
holy  war  go  on  without  lifting   his  hand  against   it. 
When  Lincoln  came  into  office,  he  stood  on  the  steps  of 
the  Capitol,  almost  amid  the  crumbling  pillars  of  the 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  213 

American  temple,  your  Government  bound  hand  and 
foot,  ready  to  be  delivered  over  to  traitors.  Nothing 
but  the  providence  of  Almighty  God  saved  your  country 
from  complete  destruction  in  those  first  hours  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  administration.  Still  he  spoke  for  peace.  On 
the  18th  of  February,  Jeff.  Davis  said,  '  The  day  for 
compromise  has  passed,  and  those  who  now  resist  us 
shall  smell  Southern  gunpowder  and  feel  Southern  steel.' 
Two  weeks  afterward,  in  his  inaugural,  Mr.  Lincoln  said, 
'  There  shall  be  no  bloodshed  unless  you  yourselves 
precipitate  the  country  into  it.'  His  counsels  were  for 
peace.  He  longed  to  put  aside  that  bloody  cup  of  war 
and  save  you  from  its  dregs.  But  at  last,  on  that  fatal 
Sunday  in  April,  when  that  little  company  of  men  in 
that  fort  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston,  with  the  flag  they 
loved  raised  above  them,  and  their  commander  on  bended 
knee,  imploring  the  blessing  of  God  to  enable  them  to 
protect  it,  eleven  fratricidal  batteries  opened  upon  them, 
when,  as  the  rebel  leaders  had  been  told,  they  could  in 
two  days  have  taken  possession  by  the  starvation  of  its 
garrison,  without  firing  a  shot.  But  a  leading  Virginian 
had  been  down  there,  and  told  them  they  must  have 
blood,  in  order  to  drive  Yirginia  out  of  the  Union. 
And  those  guns  were  your  guns,  forged  under  the  flow 
ing  folds  of  the  stars  and  stripes ;  and  the  men  who 
trained  them  were  men  you  educated  at  West  Point,  at 
the  national  expense,  who  proved  false  to  their  oaths  as 
well  as  to  their  country ;  and  they  aimed  their  guns,  not 
at  the  fort  alone,  but  at  the  nation's  heart. 

"Nor  was  this  all.     After  the  work  had  been  com 
menced,  the  rebel  Secretary  of  War  shouted  with  ex 
ultation    in   the   streets   of   their    rebel   capital:    'The 
war  has  now  been  commenced.     In  a  month  we  shall 
13 


214  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

march  on  to  Washington,  and  in  the  month  of  May  dic 
tate  terms  of  peace  in  Independence  Hall,  in  Philadel 
phia.'  When  that  threat  was  made,  that  the  Capital  of 
your  country  was  to  be  captured,  and  that  terms  of  peace 
were  to  be  executed  in  Independence  Hall  the  month 
afterward,  then  Lincoln  reluctantly  put  aside  the  olive 
branch,  and  appealed  to  the  sword  for  your  country's 
protection  and  defence.  What  else  could  he  have  done, 
and  been  faithful  to  his  oath  ?  If  he  had  stood  still,  as 
Buchanan  did  before  him,  the  whole  nation  would  have 
been  destroyed;  the  rebel  armies  would  have  overrun 
your  soil,  and  you  become  the  serfs  and  vassals  of  Jeff. 
Davis.  It  is  owing  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  taking  upon  him 
self  the  responsibility,  that  we  can  say  to-day  our  country 
has  a  Capital  and  its  Executive  a  home. 

"  This  is  not  all.  I  want  to  show  you  that  every  iota 
of  blame  for  all  the  carnage  of  the  last  three  years  of 
war  has  been  on  the  heads  of  the  traitors  of  the  South 
and  their  vindicators  in  the  Valparaiso  Convention  and 
elsewhere  in  the  North.  When  they  assembled  in  Con 
gress  after  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  they  professed  to 
be  alarmed  about  their  rights.  They  said  they  knew 
our  policy  was  to  maintain  the  territories  for  freedom, 
but  we  assured  them  that  the  Chicago  platform  meant 
only  resistance  to  further  aggressions  of  slavery.  Then 
they  said  you  have  personal  liberty  bills  which  are 
dangerous  to  our  rights  as  citizens.  Then  Congress 
passed  a  resolution  appealing  to  every  State  having  such 
acts  on  their  statute  books  to  revise  their  legislation  on 
this  subject,  in  order,  if  possible,  to  avoid  civil  war.  It 
was  an  overture  for  which  every  supporter  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln,  Lovejoy  and  myself  included,  voted.  Then  they 
said,  'We  don't  like  your  doctrine  prohibiting  us 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  2 1 5 

from  taking  our  slaves  into  the  territories.'  It  was  a 
principle  dear  to  our  hearts,  for  we  wanted  to  preserve 
those  territories  as  a  heritage  for  freedom  for  your  chil 
dren  and  your  children's  children.  But  we  responded, 
saying,  '  For  the  sake  of  peace  we  are  even  willing  to 
yield  that  point,'  and  we  passed  bills  organizing  all  the 
territories  left  in  the  country,  without  a  single  word  pro 
hibiting  slavery  in  any  of  them,  and  said  to  them,  *  Will 
you  not  now  be  content  ?' 

"  The  next  thing  was,  '  We  fear  your  growing  power 
in  the  North.'  Then  was  passed,  by  a  two-third  vote  in 
both  houses  of  Congress,  a  Constitutional  amendment, 
which,  when  ratified  by  a  requisite  number  of  the  States, 
would  have  provided  that  slavery  shall  never  be  inter 
fered  with  by  Congress  in  the  States  in  which  it  exists. 
Was  not  this  going  to  the  last  verge  of  concession  ? 
But  when  we  had  done  all  this,  they  turned  around  and 
said,  '  If  we  would  give  them  a  blank  sheet  of  paper  on 
which  to  write  their  own  terms,  they  would  not  stay 
with  us  with  Lincoln  as  President  of  the  United  States.' 
And  they  went  on  with  their  unholy  work. 

'*  Yet  we  are  told  in  this  resolution  that  the  civil  war 
upon  us  is  '  the  result  of  the  teachings  and  blasting  in 
fluences  of  Abolitionism,  which  has  been  sown  broad 
cast  through  church  and  school  for  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century.'  Three  or  four  years  ago  I  read  in  the  Rich 
mond  Examiner  the  following,  never  dreaming  that  I 
would  find  the  same  idea  advanced  in  print  in  this  ninth 
Congressional  district  of  Indiana. 

"  '  We  have  got  to  hating  every  thing  with  the  prefix 
free,  from  free  negroes  down  and  up  through  the  whole 
catalogue.  Free  farms,  free  labor,  free  society,  free  will, 
free  thinking,  free  children,  and  free  schools — all  belong 


2i  6  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

to  the  same  brood  of  damnable  isms.  But  the  worst  of 
all  these  abominations  is  the  modern  system  of  FREE 
SCHOOLS.  The  New  England  system  of  free  schools  has 
been  the  cause  and  prolific  source  of  the  infidelities  and 
treasons  that  have  turned  her  schools  into  Sodorns  and 
Gomorrahs,  and  her  churches  into  the  common  nestling- 
places  of  howling  bedlamites.  We  abominate  the  system 
lecause  the  schools  are  free.'1 

"Who  can  question  the  affinity  between  the  writer  of 
the  above  and  the  men  who  passed  the  Valparaiso  reso 
lution,  denouncing  both  church  and  school  as  the  cause 
of  this  war  ?  Sensible  and  reflecting  men  know  that 
they  have  been  the  nurseries  of  liberty,  morality  and 
good  order.  You  who  do  not  belong  to  any  church  are 
yet  willing  to  concede  that  the  organization  of  churches 
in  our  midst  tends  to  promote  good  order,  peace,  and 
harmony.  And  you  know,  too,  whether  you  have  children 
to  send  to  school  or  not,  that  the  schools  of  a  community 
enable  those  who  come  after  you  to  become  useful  and 
worthy  members  of  society ;  that  they  are  the  palladiums 
of  our  liberties,  and  we  are  prouder  of  them  than  almost 
any  thing  else  we  have  to  leave  our  descendants.  But 
these  men  who  have  nominated  my  competitor  denounce 
them  as  the  cause  of  the  civil  war,  thus  echoing  the 
tirade  of  the  organ  of  the  rebellion  against  every  thing 
that  is  free.  [Cheers.]  I  need  not  add  more.  The  bare 
presentation  of  this  coincidence  must  excite  your  con 
demnation.  Still,  you  have  to  approve  it  by  your  votes 
in  October,  or  trample  it  under  foot  in  your  indignation. 

"EQUALITY   OF   BLACK  AND  WHITE   MEN. 

"  I  now  come  to  the  following  resolution : 

"'6.  That  we  opposo  the  abolition  policy  of  freeing 


Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax.  217 

and  arming  the  slave  against  his  master,  as  only  tending 
to  widen  the  breach  between  the  States,  and  that  we  de 
nounce  every  policy  that  will  directly  or  indirectly  or  in 
its  tendency  place  the  black  on  a  military,  political  and 
civil  equality  with  the  white.' 

"  Negro  equality  is  the  constant  theme  of  those  who 
can  only  revile  the  Government,  and  my  opponents  have 
ingeniously  introduced  it  into  this  resolution.  I  frankly 
say  to  you  to-day,  that  the  black  man  who  is  willing  to 
give  his  heart's  blood  for  his  country  is  a  thousand  times 
better  than  the  rebel  white  man  whose  hand  is  red  with 
the  blood  of  his  neighbors.  Sympathizing  with  the 
masters  of  the  slaves  as  they  do,  these  men  among  us 
don't  want  the  slaves  freed,  put  into  our  Union  armies, 
or  employed  in  the  fortifications.  They  would  prefer 
to  have  them  remain  slaves,  that  they  may  continue  to 
raise  food  for  the  support  of  the  rebel  troops  fighting 
and  slaughtering  your  sons  who  stand  for  the  defence  of 
their  country.  They  are  opposed  to  our  arming  the 
slaves,  because  thereby  we  swell  the  number  of  the 
Union  army,  and  diminish  and  weaken  the  armies  of  the 
enemy.  I  am  in  favor  of  freeing  and  arming  every 
slave  against  his  rebel  master  and  for  the  country. 

"  For  my  part,  I  am  willing  to  use  every  means  in  our 
power  to  strengthen  our  armies  for  the  putting  down  of 
the  rebellion.  I  would  free  every  black  man  in  the 
South,  and  put  him  in  your  armies  to  assist  in  saving 
your  country  from  being  blotted  from  the  world.  And 
if  these  men  at  home  opposing  us  had  joined  with  us, 
and  aided  in  organizing  the  colored  troops,  instead  of 
having  a  hundred  thousand,  we  might  have  had  two 
or  three  hundred  thousand.  And  now,  if  Atlanta  and 
Mobile  were  to  fall  within  the  next  few  weeks,  the 


218  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

Government  would  obtain  the  military  control  of  a  dis 
trict  in  which  there  are  large  numbers  of  slaves ;  and  if 
the.  Government  proceeds  to  organize  them  into  regi 
ments  and  brigades,  and  they  are  all  willing  to  fight, 
when  it  is  for  their  country  and  their  liberty,  it  might 
save  you  from  this  draft,  and  not  only  so,  but  allow 
thousands  of  your  war-worn  friends  to  return.  I  would 
rejoice  at  such  a  result ;  but  how  would  it  be  with  the 
men  who  passed  the  resolution  under  consideration  ? 
They  would  raise  some  fresh  denunciation  of  the  admin 
istration.  If  you  could  organize  a  hundred  thousand 
mules  that  would  kick  this  rebellion  to  death,  I  would 
be  glad  to  have  them  do  it.  „  [Cheers  and  laughter.]  I 
do  not  believe  any  rebel  in  the  South  is  too  good  to  be 
shot  by  a  loyal  negro,  and  I  do  not  understand  why  these 
men  are  so  opposed  to  having  the  negro  fight  for  the 
Union,  unless  they  don't  want  the  Union  preserved. 
They  don't  want  to  go  themselves,  and  object  to  having 
the  negro  go.  Still  they  say  this  is  a  war  for  the 
negro.  It  is  not;  it  is  a  war  for  the  Union.  You 
know  how  rejoiced  they  are  when  they  find  any  evi 
dence  that  the  negro  soldier  will  not  fight.  They  did 
fall  back  at  Petersburg,  and  I  regretted  to  hear  it,  be 
cause  that  reverse  prevented  us  from  taking  the  place, 
perhaps.  But  the  negroes  were  not  the  attacking  col umn  ; 
they  were  the  supporting  column ;  and  white  troops  fell 
back  also  from  the  crater  of  the  mine  that  was  exploded. 
And  here  I  would  have  you  listen  to  the  testimony  of 
the  New  York  Herald,  which  is  not  at  all  friendly  to  the 
negro: 

"NEW  YORK  HERALD  ON  NEGRO  TROOPS. 

"  *  In  connection  with  the  story  of  alleged  demorali- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  219 

zation,  justice  compels  it  to  be  added  that  no  troops  ever 
made  a  finer  charge  than  that  made  by  the  colored  troops 
on  the  enemy's  first  line,  directly  following  the  mine's 
explosion.  It  is  true  they  fell  back  after  the  second 
charge,  but  it  is  also  true  that  in  no  charge  made  in  this 
war,  have  troops  been  under  such  a  severe  and  murder 
ous  exposing  fire  of  musketry  and  shrapnel.' 

"They  fell  back  in  a  panic  which  often  overtakes 
troops  of  all  kinds.  I  do  not  call  negro  soldiers  better 
than  white  ones.  If  I  were  compelled  to  express  my 
opinion,  it  might  be  that  those  of  my  own  color  are  bet 
ter  and  braver.  For  I  have  always  told  you,  in  spite  of 
charges  to  the  contrary,  that  while  I  believed  in  equality 
under  the  law  for  the  poorest  and  humblest,  I  believed 
the  Anglo-Saxon  race  was  intellectually  superior  to  all 
other  races  that  walk  on  the  foot-stool  of  God.  That  the 
negroes  do  fight  bravely  and  heroically,  is  as  true  as 
that  the  sun  shines  in  the  heavens.  They  have  proven 
it  at  Port  Hudson,  Milliken's  Bend,  Lake  Providence, 
Newbern,  etc. ;  and  at  Olustee,  Florida,  the  colored 
soldiers  in  the  rear  saved  the  entire  army.  It  was  only 
yesterday  you  read  in  the  despatches  that  at  Dalton,  Ga., 
our  soldiers  were  attacked — one  hundred  and  fifty  of 
them — by  a  largely  superior  force  of  the  enemy.  Refus 
ing  to  surrender,  they  were  about  being  beaten,  when  a 
negro  regiment  went  out  from  behind  the  fortifications, 
and  repulsed  the  superior  forces  of  the  enemy.  Let  these 
facts  be  remembered  by  those  who  oppose  the  use  of  the 
negroes  in  our  armies.  If  they  were  friends  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  they  would  welcome  all  the  aid  the  negroes 
could  afford  us.  At  Bunker  Hill,  negroes  fought  along 
side  of  Warren,  and  he  did  not  think  himself  disgraced 
by  them.  In  1814,  at  New  Orleans,  negro  soldiers 


22O  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

fought  along  side  of  Jackson.  He  did  not  think  it 
'abolition  policy'  to  arm  them.  On  the  contrary,  they 
proved  their  heroism  there,  and  in  general  orders  he  re 
turned  them  thanks  for  their  bravery.  On  the  lakes, 
under  Perry,  when  he  broke  the  British  power  and 
achieved  his  great  victory,  sending  up  this  heroic  mes 
sage,  '  We  have  met  the  enemy  and  they  are  ours,'  negro 
soldiers  and  sailors  fought  by  his  side.  He  was  proud 
of  them.  And  the  Virginia  Legislature  not  only  called 
negro  soldiers  into  the  field,  but  passed  an  act  emancipa 
ting  every  slave  who  had  fought  for  his  country.  Wash 
ington  appealed  to  Rhode  Island  to  furnish  a  battalion 
of  negroes  in  the  revolutionary  war.  The  history  of  our 
country  is  full  of  instances  of  this  kind.  But  now  when 
summoned  to  the  field  to  put  down  this  rebellion  of  the 
slaveholders,  these  men  denounce  it,  because  forsooth  it 
weakens  the  rebels  and  strengthens  the  armies  of  the 
Union.  Suppose  their  house  was  on  fire,  and  some  ne 
groes  in  the  vicinity ;  do  you  think  they  would  allow 
them  to  assist  in  putting  it  out?  I  apprehend  they 
would.  Why^  then,  when  your  great  national  fabric  is 
in  flames,  do  they  oppose  allowing  negroes  to  pour  out 
their  life's  blood  in  putting  out  the  fire  that  imperils  this 
edifice  ? 

"It  was  a  great  question  before  the  administration, 
whether  we  should  allow  rebels  to  use  their  slaves 
against  us,  or  we  use  the  slaves  against  them.  I  believe 
the  administration  solved  it  correctly,  and  I  stand  by  it. 
You  have  heard  a  great  deal  said  about  negro  worship 
pers  in  the  past  I  think  that  when  white  men  go  forth 
from  their  homes,  families  and  business,  to  lay  down 
their  lives,  if  need  be,  in  order  to  save  their  country,  no 
body  worships  the  negro  so  much  as  those  who  refuse  to 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  2  2 1 

allow  them  to  go  into  your  armies  to  share  the  burdens 
and  sacrifices  of  the  contest.  When  the  bill  for  this 
purpose  was  before  Congress,  every  Democrat  voted 
to  strike  out  the  word  'negroes,'  while  the  rest  of  us 
voted  the  other  way,  and  said,  *  let  the  negroes  be 
enrolled,  too ;  let  them  take  their  share  in  fighting  for 
the  Union.'  (Cheers.) 

"THE  WAR  NOT  SUCCESSFUL. 

"But  we  are  asked,  '  why  are  you  not  yet  successful  ? 
"You  have  been  fighting  now  for  three  years,  and  you 
have  not  accomplished  any  thing.'  In  the  first  place,  they 
ignore  all  the  triumphs  of  the  past  two  years — that  we 
have  won  an  area  of  country  larger  than  England, 
France  and  Austria  combined,  that  our  armies  have  cut 
their  way  to  the  Gulf,  opened  the  Mississippi  river,  and 
bisected  the  realm  of  this  rebellion.  They  ignore  the 
fact  that  800,000  square  miles  held  by  the  Confederates 
have  been  reduced  to  300,000,  and  all  their  military 
power  is  now  confined  to  that  narrow  region  between 
the  Atlantic  seaboard  and  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  and 
between  Richmond  and  Atlanta.  Suppose  our  cause 
had  been  reduced  in  the  same  way ;  suppose  they  had 
pressed  us  back  to  the  bounds  of  the  Northwest,  so  that 
our  flag  dare  not  wave,  except  so  far  as  Northern  guer 
illas,  if  we  had  such,  might  carry  it ;  suppose  they  had 
pressed  us  out  of  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  Indiana  and  Illi 
nois,  until  our  whole  military  power  was  locked  up  in 
New  England  and  New  York;  suppose  they  had  our 
seaboard  blockaded,  except  two  or  three  ports ;  and  sup 
pose  the  last  of  our  able-bodied  men,  down  to  sixteen 
years  old,  had  been  swept  into  our  armies  as  they  are  in 
the  Confederacy — for  they  can  only  make  a  draft  now 


222  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

upon  their  cradles — then  our  cause  would  be  in  the 
condition  of  their  cause.  They  have  fought  worthy  of 
a  better  cause ;  yet  they  have  been  pressed  down,  as  we 
now  see  Sherman  pressing  them  towards  the  heart  of 
Georgia,  where  they  are  losing  one  hundred  per  cent, 
more  than  our  armies  lose  in  their  engagements.  And 
yet  we  are  asked,  Why  are  you  not  successful  ? 

"  UNITY  OF   REBELS  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

"I  wish  we  had  been  more  successful,  and  I  will  tell 
you  how  we  could  have  been  more  successful.  If  we 
had  followed  the  example  of  the  South,  who  have  been 
united  as  one  man ;  if  the  whole  North  in  patriotism  had 
been  as  much  united  as  the  rebellion  in  treason,  they 
would  have  been  crushed  at  the  outset.  If  we  had  had 
unity  at  first,  and  afterward  harmony  and  concord  of 
action,  the  rebellion  would  have  been  put  down  long  ago. 
While  the  South  has  made  business  of  war,  having  their 
seacoast  blockaded,  their  commerce  and  business  gener 
ally  suspended,  except  such  as  has  been  necessary  for  the 
support  of  their  armies,  and  directed  all  their  energies 
against  us  in  the  North,  we  have  had  not  only  to  fight 
rebellion  in  the  South,  but  to  contend  with  disloyalty, 
cupidity,  and  perfidy  at  home.  Go  to  the  South  and 
you  will  hear  them  denouncing  Lincoln  as  a  tyrant ;  and 
in  the  North  you  hear  the  same  language.  Go  South, 
and  you  will  hear  them  denouncing  the  legislation  of 
Congress  ;  in  the  North  you  hear  the  same  language,  or 
worse.  Down  South  they  weaken  your  armies  by  con 
fronting  them  in  the  field  with  musket  and  cannon  ;  up 
North  you  find  them  seeking  to  weaken  those  same 
armies  by  encouraging  desertion.  Have  you  not  seen 
those  letters,  written  by  men  in  the  North,  encouraging 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  223 

your  boys  to  desert;  which,  patriots  as  they  are,  the  sol 
diers  send  back  to  be  published,  to  the  everlasting  dis 
grace  of  their  authors.  (Cheers.)  These  men  of  the 
South  and  these  men  of  the  North,  seem  like  the  two 
blades  of  a  pair  of  shears,  pressing  together  to  cut  the 
map  of  your  country  in  two.  (Cheers.) 

"  THE  PEACE  OF  DEATH. 

"A  few  words  on  the  question  of  peace.  We  all  long 
for  peace,  and  none  more  so  than  the  administration  and 
its  supporters.  I  am  opposed  to  all  wars,  except  defen 
sive  wars.  I  am  not  in  favor  of  the  next  war,  or  any 
other,  except  it  be  for  the  defence  of  our  country.  I  do 
not  believe  in  a  war  of  aggrandizement,  of  conquest,  or 
of  hate.  And  I  would  not  have  asked  any  father  here 
to  give  his  son  to  the  present  war,  if  it  had  not  been 
a  war  to  save  a  great  nation  from  death.  It  is  sad 
to  see  a  soldier  die,  on  the  battle-field  or  in  the  hospital ; 
but  sadder  is  the  death  of  a  great  nation,  with  all  its  his 
tories  of  a  glorious  past,  and  its  ripening  harvest  of  a 
still  brighter  future.  Such  a  death  is  one  at  which  the 
world  indeed  might  sorrow.  It  was  to  save  our  country 
from  this  death  that  we  embarked  in  this  war,  and  it  is 
to  avert  this  great  calamity  that  the  war  must  be  prose 
cuted  to  the  end. 

"  THE  WAR  NOT  TO  ABOLISH  SLAVERY. 

"  Oh,  but  they  say,  you  made  this  war  to  abolish 
slavery.  I  deny  it.  They  bring  a  document,  written  by 
Mr.  Lincoln,  on  the  18th  of  July  last,  to  prove  it.  But 
I  ask  you  to  remember  that  their  denunciations  of  this 
war  were  just  as  bitter  before  as  since  that  document 
was  written.  I  hold  in  my  hand  the  Democratic  plat- 


2^4  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

form  of  1862,  nearly  six  months  after  the  introduction 
of  the  Crittenden  Resolution,  which  is  as  full  of  denun 
ciations  of  the  war  as  the  resolutions  of  to-day. 

"  NIAGARA  PEACE  NEGOTIATIONS. 

"A  few  weeks  since  certain  commissioners,  or  men 
pretending  to  be  commissioners,  claiming  to  be  the 
bearers  of  propositions  of  peace,  appeared  at  Niagara 
Falls,  and  through  Mr.  Greeley,  asked  a  safe  conduct 
to  Washington.  When  their  request  was  granted  by 
the  President,  on  condition  that  they  were  duly  author 
ized  by  the  rebel  authorities  to  treat  for  peace,  they 
replied  that  they  had  no  authority  of  the  kind,  but  be 
lieved  if  they  could  be  taken  to  Washington,  and  from 
thence  through  our  lines  to  Richmond,  they  could  pro 
cure  such  authority.  The  inference  was  unmistakable 
that  they  were  spies,  seeking  to  make  observations,  and 
the  President  sent  back  this  declaration: 

" '  To  WHOM  IT  MAY  CONCERN  : 

" '  Any  proposition  which  embraces  the  restoration  of 
peace,  the  integrity  of  the  whole  Union,  and  the  aban 
donment  of  slavery,  and  which  comes  by  and  with  an 
authority  that  can  control  the  armies  now  at  war  against 
the  United  States,  will  be  received  and  considered  by 
the  Executive  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  will 
be  met  by  liberal  terms  on  substantial  and  collateral 
points.* 

"Now  you  will  have  heard,  on  every  highway  and 
by-way,  in  every  town  and  hamlet  throughout  the  land, 
since  th-e  publication  of  this  document,  that  Lincoln  is 
prosecuting  this  war  to  compel  the  South  to  free  their 
negroes.  I  deny  that  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  laying  down  these 
terms,  indicated  that  no  others  would  be  considered. 


Life  ef  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  225 

He  simply  carried  out  the  counsels  of  his  chief  military 
adviser,  Lieutenant-General  Ulysses  S.  Grant.  I  have 
here  Grant's  letter,  written  in  August,  1863,  in  which  he 
declares : 

'"The  people  of  the  North  need  not  quarrel  over  the 
institution  of  slavery.  What  Vice-President  Stephens 
acknowledges  as  the  corner-stone  of  the  Confederacy  is 
already  knocked  out.  Slavery  is  already  dead,  and 
cannot  be  resurrected.  It  would  take  a  standing  army 
to  maintain  slavery  in  the  South,  if  we  were  to  take 
possession,  and  had  guaranteed  to  the  South  all  her 
constitutional  privileges.  I  never  was  an  abolitionist; 
not  even  what  would  be  called  anti-slavery ;  but  I  try 
to  judge  fairly  and  honestly,  and  it  became  patent  to 
my  mind  very  early  in  the  rebellion,  that  the  North 
and  South  could  never  live  at  peace  with  each  other, 
except  as  one  nation,  and  that  without  slavery.  As 
anxious  as  I  am  to  see  peace  established,  I  would  not, 
therefore,  be  willing  to  see  any  settlement  until  this 
question  is  forever  settled.7 

"Whether  right  or  wrong,  that  is  the  deliberate 
opinion  of  the  General  who  is  now  commander-in-chief 
of  your  armies  in  the  field,  that  the  Union  cannot  be 
maintained  in  peace,  unless  slavery  be  destroyed. 

"  NO  CAUSE  YET  FOR  DESPAIR. 

"You  may  think,  sometimes,  that  the  prospect  is 
gloomy ;  but  our  fathers  of  the  revolutionary  war  had 
seven  years  of  war  more  gloomy  than  any  we  have  yet 
had  in  this  war.  They  were  fighting  against  the  most 
powerful  nation  on  earth ;  yet,  in  spite  of  disaster  and 
gloom,  they  pressed  on  till  the  God  of  battles  gave  them 
victory.  You  may  feel  dispirited,  but  as  for  me,  God 
helping  me,  I  never  will  consent  to  the  destruction  or 


2^6  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

disintegration  of  this  Union.  If  we  cannot  live  in  peace 
as  one  nation,  we  cannot  as  two ;  and,  whenever  you 
acknowledge  this  Confederacy,  you  acknowledge  the 
right  of  secession,  and  there  will  be  no  end  to  division. 
It  will  be  like  picking  the  stones  from  under  this  build 
ing,  which  would  cause  it  to  fall  into  a  shapeless  mass  of 
ruins.  First  might  come  Michigan  and  say,  '  you  have 
acknowledged  the  right  of  the  rebel  States  to  secede,  and 
you  have  let  them  go,  yielding  the  point  that  the  Con 
stitution  is  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  and  agreeing 
that  State  rights  shall  take  the  place  of  national 
authority,  in  violation  of  the  doctrines  of  Jackson, 
Webster,  and  Clay.'  And  Michigan  might  stand  out  by 
herself,  repudiating  your  Constitution,  Government, 
debt  and  all.  Whenever  you  recognize  one  rebellion, 
and  submit  to  the  dismemberment  of  a  part  of  the 
States,  the  door  is  open  wide,  and  all  others  may  follow. 
New  York  might  say,  '  we  can  prosper  better  alone  than 
in  partnership  with  the  rest  of  the  States.'  Having  the 
port  of  entry  for  all  nations,  the  tariff  duties  that  would 
fall  into  her  hands  would  make  her  wealth  unbounded. 
So  one  after  another  would  go;  and  when  you  have 
thus  made  your  Union  a  rope  of  sand,  I  ask  where  is 
your  Government  ?  Where  the  pensions  for  your  soldiers 
who  have  come  home  maimed  and  crippled  in  the 
nation's  defence;  where  the  annual  stipend  for  the 
widows  of  those  who  have  given  their  husbands  that 
their  country  might  live  ?  I  ask,  where  is  your  flag  and 
your  nationality  ?  You  will  be  lower  in  the  scale  of 
nations  than  poor,  despised  Mexico,  consigned  to  end 
less  anarchy.  With  long  lines  of  border  to  defend 
against  each  other's  encroachments,  border  warfare  will 
bo  interminable,  and  instead  of  having  peace  as  a  result 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  227 

of  recognition,  you  will  have  war  all  the  time.  And, 
as  in  Mexico,  the  prophecy  of  the  old  world  may  be 
realized,  and  some  strong  man  perhaps  come  up  from 
that  era  of  anarchy,  and  plant  a  despotism  on  the  soil 
of  once  free  America,  destroying  your  liberties  forever. 

"On  the  contrary,  your  path  of  safety  is  to  press  on,1 
yielding  no  jot  of  heart  or  hope,  resolved  that  you  will 
conquer  at  last.  With  that  resolution  there  will  be  no 
such  thing  as  failure. 

"THE  PEACE   THAT  MEANS  WAR. 

"  While  these  men  are  crying  peace  on  your  street- 
corners  and  at  your  mass  meetings,  it  is  ascertained 
unquestionably  that  they  are  in  secret  organizing  for 
war — war,  not  on  rebels,  but  war  on  your  Government, 
war  on  the  nation,  war  upon  the  defenders  of  the  Union 
especially.  I  know  many  of  you  have  blamed  Mr.  Lin 
coln  because  he  did  not  arrest  Yallandigham  on  his  re 
turn  from  his  exile.  You  thought  it  was  timorous  on 
his  part ;  and  it  is  the  fashion  in  this  country  first  to 
find  fault  with  our  rulers,  and  then  learn  the  facts.  In 
this  case  the  facts  were  that  when  Vallandigham  returned 
to  the  United  States,  it  was,  naturally  enough,  to  attend 
a  Democratic  convention.  You  thought  Lincoln  should 
have  arrested  him  at  once;  but  he  knew  the  fact  at  that 
time,  that  there  was  a  secret  organization  in  the  North 
west,  the  details  of  which  he  was  not  familiar  with, 
whose  intention  it  was  to  make  the  arrest  of  Yallandig 
ham  the  pretext  of  inaugurating  civil  war  in  the  North. 
Anxious  to  preserve  peace  around  your  homes,  he  took 
no  public  notice  of  the  return  of  that  individual,  in  order 
to  take  from  that  secret  organization  the  pretext  they 
had  sought,  and  thus  derange  their  plans. 


2-28  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"Since  that  time  General  Carrington  and  Governor 
Morton  have  obtained  the  whole  ritual  of  that  organiza 
tion.  Here  it  is,  in  the  Indiana  Sentinel,  not  black  Re 
publican  authority,  bear  in  mind.  Having  found  they 
could  no  longer  keep  it  a  secret,  after  its  publication 
elsewhere,  they  publish  the  document,  saying  it  is  only 
a  Democratic  organization.  What  the  Democracy  of 
Indiana  propose  to  do,  and  how,  will  be  seen  from  the 
following  section  of  their  constitution : 

"  *  SECTION  8.  The  Supreme  Commander  shall  take  an 
oath  to  observe  and  maintain  the  principles  of  the  order 
before  entering  upon  the  duties  of  this  office,  said  oath 
to  be  prescribed  by  law.  He  shall  be  the  presiding 
officer  of  the  Supreme  Council,  and  charged  with  the 
execution  of  all  laws  enacted  by  it.  He  shall  be  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  all  military  forces  belonging  to  the 
order  in  the  various  States,  when  called  into  active  ser 
vice,'  etc. 

"  And  at  the  meeting  of  the  Grand  Council  in  Feb 
ruary,  1864,  the  Grand  Commander,  H.  H.  Dodd,  of  In- 
diana,  says: 

<MOur  political  affinity  is  unquestionably  with  the 
Democratic  party;  and  if  that  organization  goes  boldly 
to  the  work,  standing  firmly  on  its  time-honored  prin 
ciples,  maintaining  unsullied  its  integrity,  it  is  safe  to 
presume  that  it  will  receive  the  moral  and  physical 
support  of  this  wide-extended  association.' 

"It  is,  as  you  see,  confessedly  a  military  organiza 
tion — an  army  of  men,  of  whom  one  is  to  be  commander- 
in-chief ;  and  it  is  contemplated  that  they  shall  be  called 
into  active  service.  What  for?  To  reinforce  the  armies 
of  the  Union?  No;  they  have  nothing  of  that  kind  in 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  229 

their  hearts.  "What  for,  except  to  give  aid  and  comfon 
to  the  enemies  of  the  Union,  by  letting  loose  the  dogs 
of  war,  rapine  and  bloodshed  upon  the  Union  men  of 
the  North  ?  And  I  tell  you  to-day  that  had  it  not  been 
for  the  organization  of  Union  Leagues,  for  counsel  and 
concert  in  action,  they  would  long  ago  have  risen  against 
us.  But  when  they  found  they  were  confronted  by  your 
united  strength,  they  quailed  before  it,  and  the  organi 
zation  of  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle  was  aban 
doned,  and  the  '  Sons  of  Liberty,'  of  Treason,  rather,  has 
been  organized  in  its  stead. 

"  They  say,  *  Our  political  affinity  is  undoubtedly  with 
the  Democratic  party,'  which  will  receive  the  'physical 
support  of  this  wide-extended  association.'  How  the 
'physical  support?'  Unquestionably  through  their  'Ma 
jor-Generals,'  'Brigadier-Generals,' (  Colonels,' etc.,  'when 
called  into  active  service.'  And  all  the  while  this  organ 
ization  has  been  perfecting  and  planning  operations,  its 
members  have  been  crying,  '  Peace,  peace.'  They  have 
been  carrying  white  banners  in  their  conventions  out  of 
doors;  but  indoors  they  have  been  organizing  under 
the  red  flag,  to  make  war  upon  you  and  your  Govern 
ment  ;  and  now,  after  the  mask  has  been  torn  from  them, 
they  justify  themselves  under  the  pretext  that  the  elec 
tions  are  to  be  interfered  with,  which  interference  they 
intend  to  resist  as  antagonistic  to  their  liberties.  This 
pretence  has  been  very  properly  and  explicitly  exposed 
and  denounced  by  Governor  Morton. 

"  What  was  it  that  enabled  the  South  to  precipitate 
this  rebellion  ?  It  was  the  organization  of  the  Knights 
of  the  Golden  Circle.  And  remember  that  of  this  or 
ganization  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  Yallandigham  is  the 
Supreme  Commander  at  the  North,  and  Sterling  Price, 
14 


230  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

a  commanding  General  of  rebels,  in  the  South;  and  the 
members  of  the  order  are  as  much  the  sworn  soldiers 
of  Jefferson  Davis  as  those  in  uniform  and  following  the 
flag  of  the  traitorous  Confederacy.  (Cheers.)  I  suppose 
you  have  them  here,  and  I  intend  to  denounce  them  as 
worse  than  the  Jacobins  of  France,  who  plunged  their 
country  into  the  red  sea  of  revolution.  Do  you  doubt 
their  intentions?  Eead  the  following  extract  from  a 
letter  written  to  the  Adjutant-General  of  the  State,  in 
reference  to  the  Deputy  Supreme  Commander  of  the 
order : 

" '  Horace  Heffren,  of  this  county,  who  is  charged  with 
being  second  in  command  in  Indiana,  acknowledged,  in 
a  speech  in  Palmyra,  Harrison  county,  on  the  occasion 
of  the  joint  Democratic  convention  of  the  counties,  that 
it  was  even  so  as  reported  of  him  in  these  expositions, 
and  further  said,  that  those  who  were  in  opposition  to 
the  Democratic  party  were  standing  upon  the  verge  of  a 
volcano,  which  would  burst  forth  in  a  short  time,  and 
blow  all  men  to  hell  who  stood  on  the  abolition  side  of 
the  struggle.'  This  speech  was  made  Saturday,  July  30th. 

" '  May,  a  defunct  politician  of  this  place,  who  has 
represented  this  county  in  former  times,  both  in  the 
Senate  and  House,  is  now  going  over  the  country  talk 
ing  in  this  manner,  and  seemingly  endeavoring  to  edu 
cate  the  public  mind  to  look  upon  this  contemplative 
treason  in  the  light  of  a  grand  scheme  for  the  sudden 
termination  of  this  war  and  the  establishment  of  peace. 
He  tells  the  people  that  when  the  strike  is  made  all  the 
State  capitals  will  be  taken,  and  the  arsenals  and  arms 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  order,  who  will  then  be  in 
full  power  to  confer  with  the  South ;  and  that  peace  will 
be  the  result.  Such  is  the  boldness  of  their  leader  in 
this  county  at  this  time.7 

"  These  are  the  men  who  are  talking  to  you  about 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  23 1 

p°ace.  And  I  ask  any  man,  who  loves  order  and  bates 
political  convulsions,  when  he  sees  his  country  thus 
struggling  against  foes  in  the  South  and  foes  at  home, 
seeking  its  death,  is  it  not  time  to  stop  organizing  under 
any  other  banner  than  the  stars  and  stripes,  and  keep 
step  to  no  other  music  than  the  music  of  the  Union  ? 

"THE  SCARECROW  OF  THE  NATIONAL  DEBT. 

"  Opposition  to  the  war  is  also  based  on  the  condition 
of  the  national  finances.  During  the  last  session  of 
Congress  the  opposition  insisted  that  the  soldiers  ought 
to  be  paid  in  gold.  They  were  the  champions  for  the 
increased  pay  of  the  soldiers.  We  increased  it  to  six 
teen  dollars  per  month,  but  they  wanted  to  make  it 
twenty  dollars,  and  to  pay  it  in  gold.  One  would  have 
supposed  them  the  greatest  friends  of  the  soldier.  But 
when  we  come  to  pass  the  tax -bill,  every  one  of  them 
voted  against  it.  How  were  the  soldiers  to  be  paid  in 
gold  or  any  thing  else,  without  the  passage  of  a  tax-bill  ? 
While  pretending  to  be  the  soldiers'  friends,  they  at  heart 
were  seeking  to  destroy  the  credit  of  the  nation.  They 
endeavored  to  make  it  appear  that  the  bonds  of  the  Gov 
ernment  were  worthless;  and  to  the  same  extent  that 
they  could  establish  such  a  state  of  things  would  they 
prove  that  the  property  and  every  thing  else  you  have 
is  worthless,  for  the  credit  of  the  Government  is  based 
on  these. 

"  To  get  at  the  truth  of  this  matter  let  us  inquire  how 
much  the  national  debt  amounts  to?  It  is  seven  per 
cent,  on  all  the  wealth  of  the  country;  and,  by  your  last 
statistics  you  are  increasing  in  wealth  every  year,  even 
during  the  war,  more  by  hundreds  of  millions  than  your 
debt  is  increasing.  They  say  your  expenditures  are  three 


2j2  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

or  four  millions  a  day.  They  seek  every  opportunity  to 
exaggerate  your  debt  and  your  reverses,  and  to  be- little 
your  victories.  We  have  been  in  war  three  and  a  half 
years,  they  say,  and  the  entire  debt  is  one  billion  eight 
hundred  millions  of  dollars,  of  which  one  hundred  mil 
lions  was  bequeathed  by  Buchanan,  as  a  legacy  to  re 
member  him  by — though  I  think  we  have  enough  else 
beside  that.  Your  debt  has  increased  less  than  five 
hundred  millions  a  year,  one  and  a  half  millions  a  day. 
Mr.  Fessenden  states  that  since  the  new  tax-bill  has 
come  into  operation,  the  receipts  have  been  nearly  a 
million  a  day,  and  the  tariff  gives  over  one  hundred  mil 
lions  a  year  in  gold.  If  the  war  were  to  continue 
fifteen  months  longer,  the  debt  would  amount  to  two 
billions  five  hundred  millions  at  the  present  rate  of 
increase.  Five  hundred  millions  of  it  would  be  in 
greenbacks,  on  which  there  is  no  interest ;  and  two  bil 
lions  of  it  would  draw  an  average  interest  of  six  per 
cent,  or  less.  I  want  to  show  you  that  our  financial 
credit  is  based  upon  a  rock,  which  even  the  rebellion 
may  dash  its  storms  against  in  vain.  Your  interest  would 
be  one  hundred  and  twenty  millions,  if  the  war  should 
continue  fifteen  months  longer,  which  it  cannot,  and  your 
annual  civil  expenses  would  be  one  hundred  and  thirty 
millions,  making  a  total  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  mil 
lions  a  year.  The  internal  tax-bill  raises  one  million  a 
day,  while  you  are  getting  no  tax  on  whiskey ;  and  when 
it  comes  under  the  provisions  of  the  bill  the  amount  will 
be  increased,  unless  you  stop  drinking  whiskey,  which 
few  will  do.  Putting  the  receipts  from  the  internal 
tax-bill  at  three  hundred  millions,  and  from  the  tariff 
at  one  hundred  millions,  you  will  have  four  hundred 
inilliona  a  year,  with  an  expenditure  of  only  two  hun- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  233 

dred  and  fifty  millions,  which  will  give  a  surplus  for  the 
reduction  of  taxes  or  the  sinking  of  the  debt  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  millions  a  year. 

"  At  the  end  of  your  last  war,  the  national  debt  was 
just  seven  per  cent,  on  the  wealth  of  the  nation,  just 
what  it  is  now ;  and  in  twenty  years,  without  any  inter 
nal  tax,  that  debt  was  paid  off)  and  Jackson  left  the 
Presidential  chair  with  the  country  free  from  debt. 
You  are  not  in  half  as  bad  a  condition  as  our  fathers 
were  in  the  revolution.  With  a  population  of  less  than 
three  millions,  and  one-third  of  them  disloyal,  they  put 
three  hundred  and  ninety-five  thousand  soldiers  in  the 
field.  If  you  were  to  put  the  same  proportion  in  the 
field  now,  you  would  have  four  millions  of  men  in  your 
army. 

"  Look  at  Great  Britain  in  her  war  with  France.  Her 
debt  was  forty-one  per  cent,  of  all  her  property ;  and 
with  twenty-nine  millions  of  a  population,  you  would 
suppose  they  would  have  been  crushed  out.  Yet  they 
went  on  increasing  in  wealth,  till  their  debt  is  now 
diminished  by  the  increase  of  their  wealth  to  twelve  or 
fifteen  per  cent.  And  during  that  long  time,  though 
they  had  an  opposition  party  that  wanted  peace,  and 
Napoleon  was  in  the  acme  of  his  power,  Great  Britaiii 
fought.it  out,  and  maintained  her  history  and  nationality. 

"THE  UNION  AS  IT  WAS. 

"  But  they  say,  we  are  for  the  Union  as  it  was.  I, 
too,  am  for  the  Union  as  it  was,  and  the  reason  I  de 
nounced  that  speech  of  Alexander  Long's,  and  the  reason 
I  oppose  the  recognition  of  the  Confederacy,  is  because 
I  will  not  consent  that  a  single  star  shall  be  plucked 
from  the  azure  blue  of  our  national  heavens.  They  arc 


234  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

all  to  be  there,  and  every  star  to  represent  a  State.  If 
you  want  any  of  those  stars  plucked  out,  and  your  flag 
trampled  under  foot,  you  should  select  some  other  man 
for  your  Representative,  for  I  never — no,  never — shall 
consent  to  it.  (Great  applause.)  But  if  these  men  mean 
by  '  the  Union  as  it  was,'  the  hanging  of  men  in  Texas 
for  daring  to  vote  for  the  President  of  their  choice,  then 
I  am  not  in  favor  of  the  Union  as  it  was.  If  they  mean 
the  right  to  mob  and  murder  men  from  the  North,  be 
cause  they  believe  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
then  I  am  not  in  favor  of  the  Union  as  it  was.  If  they 
mean  by  it  the  right  to  commit  all  manner  of  outrages 
on  peaceable  and  law-abiding  citizens  from  the  North, 
because  they  happen  to  hold  different  views  from  theirs, 
then  I  am  not  in  favor  of  the  Union  as  it  was.  But  a 
Union  as  it  was  before  the  outbreak  of  this  rebellion, 
with  every  star  on  our  flag  representing  a  State,  and 
with  the  right  of  free  speech  in  fact,  not  that  miserable 
pretense,  lawless  speech  in  favor  of  treason — but  the 
right  to  declare  yourself  in  favor  of  the  God-given  prin 
ciples  of  liberty  throughout  the  whole  land,  and  to  vote 
for  whom  you  please,  I  am  in  favor  of,  to  the  last  beat 
of  my  heart.  (Great  applause.) 

"  They  say  they  are  in  favor  of  the  Constitution  as  it 
is.  "Who  are  to  blame  that  they  have  not  the  Co.nstitu- 
tion  as  it  is  ?  Nobody  proposed  to  amend  it  but  them 
selves  ;  and  they  lifted  the  red  hand  of  blood  against  it. 
They  alone  are  to  blame,  and  they  can  have  it  again  by 
laying  down  their  arms  and  returning  to  their  allegiance 
to  it. 

"THE  PATH  OF  DUTY  PLAIN. 
"  "We  have  but  one  path  of  duty,  in  which  to  walk. 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  235 

It  is  to  press  on  until  every  Malakoff  in  the  South  shall 
fall,  and  every  suffering  Lucknow  shall  hear  the  slogan 
of  deliverance.  If  you  are  willing  to  yield,  you  are  not 
worthy  of  those  who  have  gone  forth  from  homes  happy 
with  the  sunlight  of  love,  from  wives  and  children  pre 
cious  to  them  as  the  apple  of  their  eye,  to  lay  down 
their  lives  for  you.  If  you  are  willing  that  the  graves 
of  the  loved  and  lost  shall,  until  the  hour  of  resurrec 
tion,  be  under  a  rebellious  flag  and  on  hostile  soil,  where 
no  friend  can  shed  a  tear  of  sympathy,  unless  by  permis 
sion  of  Jefferson  Davis,  you  are  not  worthy  of  the 
revolutionary  fathers  that  bequeathed  to  us  the  most 
priceless  liberty  that  was  ever  bequeathed  from  sire  to 
son.  No,  I  know  you  will  not  do  it.  Whether  travel 
ling  in  the  valley  of  humiliation  and  disaster,  or  keeping 
my  eye  fixed  on  the  heavens,  I  believe  God  reigns.  I 
cannot  believe  his  blessings  will  fall  upon  the  Confeder 
acy.  God's  ways  are  sometimes  dark,  but  'sooner  or 
later  they  touch  the  shining  hills  of  day. J 

"  So  it  will  be  with  us  if  we  are  faithful  in  this  great 
endeavor.  Above  all,  while  your  soldiers  are  in  the 
front,  there  should  be  no  word  of  discouragement  among 
you.  You  hear  from  them  no  appeal  to  be  allowed  to 
lay  down  their  arms  and  return  home.  On  the  contrary, 
but  one  voice  comes  from  the  army,  and  that  is:  'Stand 
fast,  ye  men  of  little  faith !'  I  echo  that  appeal  to  you 
to-day.  They  are  in  the  Thermopylae  of  danger. 
While  their  cheeks  blanch  not,  and  their  hearts  quail 
not  before  the  foe,  let  your  hearts  and  souls  be 
strengthened  by  their  heroism.  Look  how  wonderfully 
God  seems  to  have  blessed  this  country.'  Fifty-five 
centuries  this  new  world  slumbered  here  in  its  primeval 
forests,  the  old  world  unconscious  of  its  existence.  At 


236  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

last,  Columbus,  guided  by  an  unseen  hand,  landed  on 
our  shores.  One  hundred  and  thirty  years  more  passed 
away,  when  the  little  Mayflower,  weak  and  frail,  came 
across  the  broad  Atlantic  in  the  cold,  bleak  winter,  and 
landed  on  the  New  England  shore  to  plant  the  institu 
tions  we  are  now  enjoying.  One  hundred  and  thirty 
years  more  passed  away,  and  our  fathers  struck  for 
independence.  They  were  a  narrow  fringe  of  population 
on  the  Atlantic  sea-board.  Throwing  down  the  gauntlet 
of  defiance  to  the  most  powerful  nation  the  world  ever 
saw,  they  were  bankrupt  in  all  but  faith,  hope,  and 
courage  in  a  noble  cause.  If  you  will  read  the  history 
of  the  revolution,  you  will  find  that  it  was  all  the  way 
through  beset  with  disaster.  Scarcely  three  months  in 
the  year  did  the  sun  of  victory  shine  upon  their  ban 
ners  ;  but  they  went  on  fearlessly,  appealing  to  the  God 
of  battles,  till  at  last,  by  their  perseverance  and  heroism 
they  won.  The  history  of  every  nation  shows  that  there 
has  been  an  hour  when  the  turning-point  seemed  nigh — 
when,  by  pressing  on,  they  could  win  the  good  they  sought, 
or  by  turning  back,  they  wrote  the  history  of  their  decline 
and  fall.  So  it  is  to  be  with  our  country ;  if  we  stand 
fast  we  shall  be  victorious.  The  God  of  battles  will  give 
victory  to  our  arms.  Already  this  great  nation  has  had 
three  generations  of  unequalled  progress,  while  it  has 
grown  from  three  to  thirty  millions.  Its  gates  have 
been  open  to  the  people  of  all  lands.  We  have  ad 
vanced  with  remarkable  success  and  power.  Our 
domain  is  shaped  by  the  geography  of  the  continent, 
bolted  and  riveted  by  mountain  and  river,  valley  and 
plain.  It  is  to  be  one  country,  if  we  are  faithful  to  our 
fathers'  trust ;  with  one  Constitution,  if  we  are  faithful 
to  the  sainted  dead ;  one  destiny,  if  we  are  faithful  to 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  237 

our  gallant  soldiers,  now  manfully  beating  back  the  en 
emy.  I  appeal  to  you  so  to  act,  and  so  to  vote,  that  your 
conduct  shall  thrill  the  hearts  of  your  soldiers,  and  give 
them  fresh  resolution  to  press  on  in  the  path  they  now 
so  nobly  tread ;  fresh  heroism  in  their  conflicts  with  the 
enemy.  Show  them  that  you  are  guarding  their  sacred 
cause,  and  that  as  for  you  and  your  children,  you  are 
determined  that  there  shall  be  but  one  nation,  one  flag, 
and  one  Constitution ;  and  then  the  historic  page  of  the 
future  will  shine  with  a  brighter  glory  as  it  records  the 
history  of  this  war,  standing  side  by  side  with  that  great 
struggle  out  of  which  the  nation  was  born." 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

IMPORTANT  MILITARY  EVENTS  OF  1864 — POLITICAL 
EVENTS — UNION  VICTORIES  AT  THE  POLLS — MR.  COL- 
FAX  RE-ELECTED — HIS  ABOUNDING  LABORS — BANQUET 
TO  HIM  AT  PHILADELPHIA.  % 

THE  year  1864  was  marked  by  many  notable  events 
in  the  war  with  the  rebellion.  General  Grant  had  come 
from  the  West  to  take  charge  of  the  armies  in  the  East. 
This  year  witnessed  the  terrible  battles  of  the  Wilderness 
and  the  establishment  of  the  Union  forces  south  of  the 
James.  Sheridan,  in  this  year,  won  his  famous  victories 
in  the  Shenandoah.  General  Sherman,  passing  from 
the  north  to  the  centre  of  the  great  State  of  Georgia, 
forcing  his  difficult  path  "  through  mountain  defiles  and 
across  great  rivers,  overcoming  or  turning  formidably 


23  8  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

entrenched  positions  defended  by  a  veteran  army,  com 
manded  by  a  cautious  and  skilful  commander,"  after 
several  months  of  fighting,  took  Atlanta.  From  Atlanta 
he  made  his  wondrous  march  to  the  sea,  and  gave 
Savannah,  as  his  Christmas  gift,  to  the  country.  But 
in  the  political  contests  and  triumphs  of  the  year,  events, 
no  less  important  to  the  welfare  of  the  country  and  the 
final  overthrow  of  the  rebellion,  occurred.  In  1862, 
Indiana  had  been  carried  by  the  Democracy.  In  1864, 
it  wheeled  again  into  line  with  its  great  masses  for 
union  and  for  liberty.  Union  victories  in  the  October 
elections  of  the  great  States  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio  and 
Indiana,  were  precursors  of  the  national  triumph  of  the 
Union  party  in  the  November  election  for  President. 
The  administration  was  sustained,  its  strength  in  Con 
gress  largely  increased,  and  President  Lincoln  re-elected. 
Victory  after  victory  at  the  polls  for  the  loyal  lovers  of 
the  land,  echoed  back  to  the  •  military  successes  of  the 
army  and  navy  the  doom  of  the  Confederacy. 

The  re-election  of  Mr.  Colfax  had  not  at  any  time 
been  doubtful,  although  nothing  was  left  undone  by  his 
opponents  to  secure  if  possible  his  defeat.  His  canvass, 
which  was  opened  auspiciously,  was  carried  through 
triumphantly,  and  he  was  returned  to  Congress  with  an 
increased  majority.  But  not  to  his  own  district,  nor  to 
his  own  State  were  his  labors  confined.  Seemingly 
capable  of  more  labor  than  any  other  man,  through  his 
unrivalled  physical  endurance,  always  fresh  and  vigor 
ous,  and  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  his  mental  powers,  he 
addressed  the  people  every  secular  day  of  the  week 
upon  the  great  questions  before  them,  and  was  one  of 
the  great  workers  whose  efforts  contributed  so  largeK 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  239 


in  a  half  dozen  States  out  of  his  own,  to  secure  the 
glorious  national  triumph  that  was  achieved. 

On  his  way  to  Washington,  to  attend  the  second  ses 
sion  of  the  Thirty-eighth  Congress,  Mr.  Colfax  received 
the  honor  of  a  public  banquet  in  Philadelphia,  from  an 
account  of  which  in  the  North  American,  of  that  city,  we 

take  the  following : 

t 

BANQUET  TO  SPEAKER  COLFAX. 

"  Hon.  Schuyler  Colfax,  the  popular  Speaker  of  the 
late  Congress,  is  now  paying  a  brief  visit  to  Philadel 
phia.  He  comes  among  many  personal  friends,  and 
among  a  community  in  which  his  political  character  is 
universally  appreciated,  and  where  his  public  services 
are  heartily  acknowledged.  Mr.  Colfax  is  the  guest  of 
Mr.  W.  J.  P.  White,  an  old  and  esteemed  friend.  He 
spent  yesterday  in  viewing  the  environs  of  the  city, 
paying  a  visit  to  the  great  military  hospital — a  town  in 
itself— at  Chestnut  Hill.  He  leaves  for  Washington 
to-day. 

"Last  evening  a  banquet  was  given  to  him,  at  the 
Assembly  Buildings,  by  prominent  citizens  of  Philadel 
phia.  Mr.  Colfax  is  still  a  young  man,  with  a  physique 
as  fine  as  his  mind,  and  with  as  little  of  the  lordling 
in  his  demeanor  and  bearing  as  there  is  in  the  least- 
pretending  citizen  among  us.  The  gentlemen  present 
included  Hon.  William  D.  Kelley,  Hon.  J.  P.  Yerree, 
ex- Governor  Pollock,  with  several  members  of  the  Sen 
ate  and  Legislature,  Messrs.  L.  A.  Godey,  William  D. 
Lewis,  Daniel  Dougherty,  the  Presidents  of  City  Coun 
cils,  and  many  of  the  prominent  merchants  and  profes 
sional  men  of  this  city.  The  company  present  numbered 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  gentlemen. 


240  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"After  the  cloth  was  drawn,  Mr.  McMlchael  arose, 
and  said  that  he  performed,  as  chairman  of  this 
occasion,  a  most  agreeable  duty.  He  regretted  that  ttfe 
lateness  of  the  hour  prevented  him  from  saying  more 
concerning  Mr.  Colfax  than  he  now  had  time  to  do.  It 
must  suffice  for  him  to  say,  in  the  briefest  manner,  that 
we  are  met  to-night  to  do  honor  to  Mr.  Colfax,  not  only 
for  his  public  character/  but  for  his  private  virtues — 
because  he  was  Speaker  of  the  last  Congress,  and  be 
cause  he  comes  from  a  State  that  has  borne  a  noble  part 
in  the  late  Union  victory.  He  proposed  nine  cheers  for 
Mr.  Colfax. 

11  Three  times  three  were  then  given  for  Mr.  Colfax, 
who  now  arose,  with  a  modest  bow. 

"He  thanked  the  assemblage  for  the  greetings  given 
to  him  in  this  city  of  Brotherly  Love.  He  was  so  accus 
tomed  to  replying  to  adverse  criticisms  that  he  could 
scarce  find  words  to  reply  to  such  an  honor  as  this. 
This  reception  is  no  ordinary  mark  of  confidence  and 
regard.  He  could  ascribe  it  to  no  other  motive  than  a 
desire  to  do  honor  to  the  noble  State  from  which  he 
came.  (Applause.) 

"There  was  a  more  welcome  speech  to  his  ears  than 
even  that  just  made  by  Mr.  McMichael.  It  came  from 
Philadelphia.  In  his  inland  home  his  people,  gathering 
at  the  telegraph  office,  heard  a  speech  from  Philadelphia 
on  election  night.  'Philadelphia  gives  ten  thousand  ma 
jority  for  the  Union.*  We  sent  the  response  that  same 
night  from  Indiana,  that  we  have  overwhelmed  the 
enemy  by  twenty  thousand  majority.  Philadelphia 
may  claim  pre-eminence  over  the  whole  North  for  her 
Union  majority.  Maryland,  thank  God,  has  taken  her 
place  among  the  free  States.  The  blood  of  the  Massa- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  241 

chusetts  martyrs  has  been  the  seed  of  the  church  of 
liberty.  (Loud  cheers.) 

"  We  won  the  victory  in  Indiana  with  but  one  watch 
word  :  '  Stand  by  the  Government  in  its  hour  of  trial.' 
It  is  our  duty,  we  who  are  at  home,  to  stand  by  the 
Government.  In  the  recent  campaign  our  opponents 
had  sufficient  arms  to  crush  out  any  opposition  in  other 
times.  We  had  but  one  motto — devotion  to  our  land. 
They  held  up  high  taxes,  the  draft,  and  every  thing  to 
influence  the  unthinking  mind.  We  had  but  one 
weapon — our  country  1  It  is  well  for  us  to  consider 
what  Jias  been  decided  by  this  great  manifestation  of  the 
popular  will.  Abraham  Lincoln  is  to  remain  in  the 
Presidential  chair  until  every  rebel  bows  in  allegiance 
to  the  Union.  (Cheers.)  It  decides  that  the  war  is  not 
a  failure,  and  that  it  shall  be  carried  on  until  our  flag 
floats  over  the  whole  country.  (Applause.)  It  also  de 
cides  that  no  sword  of  rebellion  shall  ever  again  disrupt 
this  country.  It  has  decided  that  the  doctrine  of  seces 
sion  can  never  be  maintained,  nor  an  alien  flag  ever  be 
allowed  to  float  upon  the  soil  that  belongs  to  the  United 
States  of  America. 

"  It  was  decided  that,  as  slavery  had  waded  in  blood 
to  overthrow  this  Union,  it  should  be  utterly  extirpated, 
both  as  a  penalty  for  its  crime  and  for  our  future  se 
curity.  When  traitors  lit  the  torch  of  war  in  South  Caro 
lina,  they  at  the  same  time  lit  the  funeral  pyre  of  their 
own  slave-breeding  institution  in  America.  (Cheers.) 
If  we  cannot  live  upon  the  American  soil  as  one  nation, 
we  cannot  live  as  two  nations.  There  should  not  be 
one  man  left  to  resist  constitutional  law,  and  the  war 
should  be  prosecuted  until  the  last  rebel  has  grounded 
his  arms.  (Applause.) 


242  Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax. 

"  We  are  much  given  in  these  days  to  talking  about 
terms  of  peace.  History  never  recorded  more  liberal 
terms  than  those  offered  by  this  Government  to  the 
traitors  in  arms  against  it.  We  offer  them  peace  if  they 
voluntarily  submit  to  the  same  laws  that  we  cheerfully 
and  willingly  obey.  We  demand  that  they  shall  place 
out  of  their  reach  the  causes  that  have  brought  on  this 
rebellion.  What  could  be  more  reasonable  ?  It  is  said 
that  we  are  striking  against  slavery.  But  it  was  slavery 
that  struck  at  our  liberties,  and  the  verdict  of  the  people 
is,  that  it  must  die.  (Deafening  cheers.)  It  is  the  deadly 
enemy  of  the  Union.  We  shall  declare  in  Congress, 
week  after  next,  that  hereafter  slavery  shall  be  impos 
sible  in  the  American  Eepublic.  (Deafening  shouts.) 
Within  eleven  votes  it  was  passed  at  the  last  session. 
Forty-one  votes  given  by  gentlemen  from  those  districts 
who  have  been  repudiated  by  their  constituents  at  the 
last  election,  will  cause  the  passage  of  the  bill  week 
after  next  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  incoming  Congress. 

"  The  pathway  toward  peace  will  then  be  easy.  Con 
gress  will  keep  faith  with  the  sainted  dead  of  the  Eevo- 
lution,  and  with  the  soldiers  of  the  front.  Grant  will  go 
on  with  his  splendid  work,  and  Sherman,  the  conqueror, 
who  has  humbled  the  Gibraltar  of  the  rebellion ;  as  he 
shall  progress,  we  will  stand  by  him  and  the  heroes  who 
follow  his  victorious  banner.  And  so  with  Phil.  Sheri 
dan  (applause) ;  we  will  stand  by  him  as  by  General 
Thomas — no  doubting  Thomas — upon  whose  banners  are 
written  victory  and  triumph  for  our  armies.  And  so 
upon  the  ocean,  we  will  stand  by  the  brave  tars  upon 
every  frigate  and  every  iron-clad ;  and  then  when  victory 
conies,  as  it  will  come,  when  no  more  secession  is  possi 
ble,  and  the  whole  world  sees  this  country  without  a 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  243 

rebel  or  a  slave  within  its  wide  domain,  there  shall  be 
written  all  over  it  the  motto — worthy  of  itself,  worthy 
of  its  fathers— 'Liberty  and  Union,  now  and  forever, 
one  and  inseparable.'" 

Mr.   Colfax  sat  down   amid  a  spontaneous  burst  of 
cheering  and  applause. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

THE  FIRST  ENTRANCE  UPON  SLAVE  SOIL — THE  CONSTI 
TUTIONAL  AMENDMENT  ABOLISHING  SLAVERY  —  IM 
PORTANT  EVENTS  DURING  THE  SECOND  SESSION  OF 
THE  THIRTY-EIGHTH  CONGRESS — THE  SPEAKER'S  VAL 
EDICTORY. 

IN  September,  1819,  Mr.  Colfax,  on  his  first  visit  to 
"Washington,  had  written  to  the  Register:  "At  New 
Castle,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  I  stepped  upon  slave 
soil.  But  little  of  the  horrors  of  slavery  are  to  be  seen 
in  the  States  of  Maryland  and  Delaware ;  but  still  the 
atmosphere  does  not  seem  as  pure  here  as  in  those  States 
blessed  with  all  the  privileges  of  freedom.  I  cannot 
forget  that  here,  where  I  am  now,  the  husband  is  liable 
at  any  hour  to  be  torn  away  from  his  wife  and  sold  into 
the  Egyptian  bondage  of  a  Texas  sugar  plantation,  and 
that  the  nurse  of  a  master  is  subject  to  be  traded  off  bv 
him  for  cattle  to  work  on  his  farm.  True,  such  things 
are  scarcely  ever  heard  of  here ;  but  the  power  exists, 
subject  only  to  a  master's  caprice." 


244  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

The  years  of  slavery  propagandism,  of  Kansas  troubles, 
of  the  war  of  the  slavery  rebellion,  had  followed.  We 
have  seen  how  instinctively  Mr.  Colfax  turned  to  the 
oppressed,  how  tenaciously  he  adhered  to  his  convictions 
of  right,  and  how  persistently  and  effectually  he  warred 
for  his  country  and  liberty.  It  must  have  been  what 
the  ancients  denominated  "  a  white  day"  to  him,  when, 
as  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives,  he  an 
nounced  the  passage  of  the  joint  resolution  of  Con 
gress,  amending  the  Constitution  and  forever  prohibiting 
slavery  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States. 
This  amendment  to  the  Constitution  had  passed  the 
Senate  during  the  first  session  of  the  Thirty-eighth  Con 
gress,  but  had  failed  in  the  House.  It  then  became 
one  of  the  issues  before  the  people  in  the  Presidential 
election.  The  fact  that  the  people  had,  by  a  decided 
majority,  declared  in  its  favor,  gave  Mr.  Lincoln  assu 
rance  that  it  would  obtain  in  the  second  session  of  this 
Congress  the  requisite  Constitutional  majority  of  two- 
thirds.  He,  therefore,  in  his  message  to  Congress, 
earnestly  urged  the  reconsideration  and  adoption  of  the 
Constitutional  amendment  to  secure  the  end  of  the  war 
and  the  permanent  welfare  of  the  country.  "  At  the  close 
of  the  debate  upon  the  amendment,  when  the  vote  was 
to  be  taken,  the  House  of  Representatives  was  filled. 
The  diplomatic  circle  was  crowded,  the  galleries  were 
packed,  and  the  floor  and  lobbies  of  the  hall  itself  were 
filled  with  distinguished  soldiers  and  civilians.  As  the 
Clerk  called  the  roll,  there  was  perfect  silence  ;  no  sound 
made  except  that  made  by  a  hundred  pencils  quickly 
marking  the  ayes  and  noes,  as  the  members  responded. 
When  the  Speaker  made  the  formal  annunciation,  '  Tl^e 
Constitutional  majority  of  two-thirds  having  voted  in 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax.  245 

the  affirmative,  the  joint  resolution  is  passed,'  it  was  re 
ceived  with  an  uncontrollable  outburst  of  enthusiasm. 
The  Republican  members,  regardless  of  the  rules,  in 
stantly  sprang  to  their  feet  and  applauded  with  cheers ; 
the  example  was  followed  by  the  spectators  in  the  gal 
leries,  who  waved  their  hats  and  the  ladies  their  hand 
kerchiefs,  and  cheers  ajd  congratulations  continued  for 
many  minutes.  Finally,  Mr.  Ingersoll,  of  Illinois,  repre 
senting  the  district  of  Owen  Lovejoy,  in  honor,  as  he  said, 
of  the  sublime  event,  moved  that  the  House  adjourn. 
The  motion  was  carried ;  but  before  the  members  left 
their  seats,  the  roar  of  artillery  announced  to  the  people 
of  Washington  that  the  amendment  had  passed  Con 
gress." 

During  the  second  session  of  the  Thirty-eighth  Con 
gress,  the  armies  of  the  Union  had  been  marching  on 
from  victory  to  victory.  Sherman  had  continued  his 
glorious  march  from  Savannah,  northward.  Columbia 
had  fallen  before  him ;  Charleston,  which  for  nearly  four 
years  had  successfully  resisted  all  attempts  to  take  it, 
was  abandoned  by  the  rebels  on  account  of  the  occupa 
tion  of  Columbia.  The  whole  State  of  South  Carolina 
was  at  the  mercy  of  Sherman's  army.  Sherman  was 
also  on  his  victorious  way  to  form  a  junction  with  Gen 
eral  Schofield  in  North  Carolina,  who  already  occupied 
some  of  the  most  important  points  in  that  State.  The 
rebel  army  of  the  West  had  been  completely  crushed 
by  the  victory  of  Thomas  over  Hood,  near  Nashville. 
Grant,  with  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Potomac,  was  tight 
ening  his  grasp  around  Petersburg  and  Richmond,  hold 
ing  Lee  with  all  his  force,  and  ready  to  take  advantage 
of  any  diminution  of  troops  in  his  front. 

On  the  night  of  the  third  of  March,  1865,  as  is  usual 
15 


246  Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax. 

on  the  last  night  of  the  session,  the  President,  with  his 
Cabinet,  was  at  his  room  in  the  Capitol,  to  receive  the 
numerous  acts  which  always  pass  Congress  during  the 
last  hurried  hours  of  the  session.  It  was  a  stormy  night, 
and  while  the  President  was  thus  waiting,  exchanging 
congratulations  with  Senators  and  members,  there  came 
to  the  Secretary  of  "War  a  telegram  from  General  Grant, 
announcing  that  Lee  had  at  last  sought  an  interview 
with  him,  for  the  purpose  of  trying  to  arrange  terms  of 
peace. 

These  military  successes,  indicating  the  speedy  and 
utter  destruction  of  the  Confederacy,  together  with  the 
political  successes  which  had  been  achieved,  and  the 
coming  inauguration  of  President  Lincoln  for  his  second 
term  of  office,  enable  us  to  enter  with  our  sympathies 
into  the  glow  of  feeling  pervading  the  valedictory  of  the 
Speaker  of  the  House,  with  which  the  Thirty-eighth 
Congress,  with  its  wise  and  beneficent  legislation,  and 
forensic  conflicts  between  liberty  and  slavery,  passed 
into  history : 

THE  SPEAKER'S  VALEDICTORY. 

"GENTLEMEN   OF   THE   HOUSE  OF   REPKESENTATIVES : 

The  parting  hour  has  come ;  and,  yonder  clock,  '  which 
takes  no  note  of  time  but  by  its  loss,'  will  soon  announce 
that  the  Congress  of  which  we  are  members,  has  passed 
into  history.  Honored  by  your  votes  with  this  respon 
sible  position,  I  have  faithfully  striven  to  perform  its 
always  complex  and  often  perplexing  duties,  without 
partisan  bias,  and  with  the  sincerest  impartiality.  Whe 
ther  I  have  realized  the  true  ideal  of  a  presiding  officer, 
aiding,  on  the  one  hand,  the  advance  of  the  public  busi- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax.  247 

ness,  with  the  responsibility  of  which  the  majority  is 
charged,  and  on  the  other  hand  allowing  no  trespass  on 
the  parliamentary  rights  of  the  minority,  must  be  left 
for  others  to  decide.  But,  looking  back  now  over  the 
entire  Congress,  I  cannot  remember  a  single  word 
addressed  to-  you  which,  'dying,  I  could  wish  to  blot.' 

"  On  this  day,  which,  by  spontaneous  consent,  is  being 
observed,  wherever  our  flag  floats,  as  a  day  of  national 
rejoicing,  with  the  roar  of  cannon  greeting  the  rising 
sun  on  the  rock-bound  coast  of  Maine,  echoed  and  re.- 
echoed  by  answering  volleys  from  city  to  city,  and  from 
mountain-peak  to  mountain-peak,  till,  from  the  Golden 
Gate,  they  die  away  far  out  on  the  calm  Pacific,  we 
mingle  our  congratulations  with  those  of  the  freemen 
we  represent  over  the  victories  for  the  Union  that  have 
made  the  winter  just  closing  so  warm  with  joy  and  hope. 
With  them,  we  rejoice  that  the  national  standard,  which 
our  revolutionary  fathers  unfurled  over  the  land,  but 
which  rebellion  sought  to  strike  down  and  destroy, 
waves  as  undisputed,  at  this  glad  hour,  over  the  cradle 
of  secession  at  Charleston  as  over  the  cradle  of  liberty 
at  Faneuil  Hall ;  and  that  the  whole  firmament  is  aflame 
with  the  brilliant  glow  of  triumphs  for  that  cause  so 
dear  to  every  patriot  heart.  We  have  but  recently 
commemorated  the  birthday  of  the  Father  of  his  Country, 
and  renewed  our  pledge  to  each  other  that  the  nation  he 
founded  should  not  be  sundered  by  the  hand  of  treason ; 
and  the  good  news  that  assures  the  salvation  of  the 
'Eepublic  is  doubly  joyous,  because  it  tells  us  that  the 
prayers  of  the  past  four  years  have  not  been  unanswered, 
and  that  the  priceless  blood  of  our  brave  defenders,  so 
freely  offered  and  so  profusely  spilt,  has  not  been  shed 
in  vain. 


248  Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax. 

"  We  turn,  too,  to-day,  with  a  prouder  joy  than  ever 
before,  to  that  banner,  brilliant  with  stars  from  the  hea 
vens,  and  radiant  with  glories  from  the  earth,  which, 
from  Bunker  Hill  to  Yorktown,  from  Lundy's  Lane  to 
New  Orleans,  and  all  through  the  darker  hours  of  the 
rebellion  in  the  past,  to  Savannah,  and  Fort  Sumter,  and 
Charleston,  and  Columbia,  and  Fort  Fisher,  and  Wil 
mington,  in  the  present,  has  ever  symbolized  our  unity 
and  our  national  life,  as  we  see  inscribed  on  it  inefface- 
ably  that  now  doubly-noble  inscription,  '  Liberty  and 
Union,  now  and  forever,  one  and  inseparable.' 

"But  in  this  hour  of  gladness  I  cannot  forget  the 
obligations,  paramount  and  undying,  we  owe  to  our 
heroic  defenders  on  every  battle-field  upon  the  land  and 
every  wave-rocked  monitor  and  frigate  upon  the  sea. 
Inspired  by  the  sublimest  spirit  of  se]f-sacrifice,  they  have 
realized  a  million-fold  the  historic  fable  of  Curtius,  as  they 
have  offered  to  close  up  with  their  own  bodies,  if  need  be, 
the  yawning  chasm  that  imperilled  the  Eepublic.  For 
you  and  me,  and  for  their  country,  they  have  turned 
their  backs  on  the  delights  of  home,  and  severed  the 
tenderest  of  ties  to  brave  death  in  a  thousand  forms  ;  to 
confront  with  unblanched  cheek  the  tempest  of  shot,  and 
shell,  and  flame;  to  storm  frowning  batteries  and  bristling 
entrenchments ;  to  bleed,  to  suffer  and  to  die.  As  we 
look  from  this  Capitol  Hill  over  the  nation,  there  are 
crushed  and  broken  hearts  in  every  hamlet ;  there  are 
wounded  soldiers,  mangled  with  rebel  bullets,  in  every 
hospital ;  there  are  patriot  graves  in  every  churchyard ; 
there  are  bleaching  bones  on  every  battle-field.  It  is 
the  lofty  and  unfaltering  heroism  of  the  honored  living 
and  the  even  more  honored  dead  that  has  taken  us  from 
every  valley  of  disaster  and  defeat,  and  placed  our  feet 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 


249 


on  the  sun-crowned  heights  of  victory.  The  granite 
shaft  may  commemorate  their  deeds,  our  American 
Valhalla  may  be  crowded  with  the  statues  of  our  heroes, 
but  our  debt  of  gratitude  to  them  can  never  be  paid 
while  time  shall  last  and  the  history  of  a  nation  shall 
endure.  £ 

"If  my  voice, "from  this  Eepresentative  hall,  could  be 
heard  throughout  the  land,  I  would  adjure  all  who  love 
the  Republic  to  preserve  this  obligation  ever  fresh  in 
grateful  hearts.  The  dead,  who  have  fallen  in  these 
struggles  to  prevent  an  alien  flag  from  waving  over  the 
ashes  of  Washington,  or  over  the  graves  where  sleep  the 
great  and  patriotic  rivals  of  the  last  generation,  the  hero 
of  New  Orleans  and  the  illustrious  Commoner  of  Ken 
tucky,  cannot  return  to  us.  On  Shiloh's  plain  and 
Carolina's  sandy  shore,  before  Richmond,  and  above  the 
clouds  at  Lookout  Mountain,  the  patriot  martyrs  of 
constitutional  liberty  sleep  in  their  bloody  shrouds  till 
the  morning  of  the  resurrection.  But  the  living  are 
left  behind,  and  if  the  Sacred  Record  appropriately 
commends  the  poor,  who  are  ever  with  us,  to  our  bene 
factions  and  regard,  may  I  not  remind  you  that  the 
widow  and  the  fatherless,  the  maimed  and  the  wounded, 
the  diseased  and  the  suffering,  whose  anguish  springs 
from  this  great  contest,  have  claims  on  all  of  us,  height 
ened  immeasurably  by  the  sacred  cause  for  which  they 
have  given  so  much  ?  Thus,  and  thus  alone,  by  pouring 
the  oil  of  consolation  into  the  wounds  that  wicked 
treason  has  made,  can  we  prove  our  devotion  to  our 
fatherland  and  our  affectionate  gratitude  to  its  defenders. 
And,  rejoicing  over  the  bow  of  promise  we  already  see 
arching  the  storm-cloud  of  war,  giving  assurance  that 
no  deluge  of  secession  shall  again  overwhelm  or  endanger 


250  .  Life  of  Schuyler  Co  If  ax. 

our  nation,  we  can  join,  with  heart  and  soul,  sincerely 
and  trustingly,  in  the  poet's  prayer : 

**  *  Now,  Father,  lay  Thy  healing  hand 
In  mercy  on  our  stricken  land  ; 
Lead  all  its  wanderers  to  the  fold, 
And  be  their  Shepherd,  as  of  old. 

"  *  So  shall  our  nation's  song  ascend 
To  Thee,  our  Ruler,  Father,  Friend  ; 
While  heaven's  wide  arch  resounds  again 
With  peace  on  earth,  good-will  to  men.' 

"  We  go  hence,  with  our  official  labors  ended,  to  the 
Senate  chamber  and  the  portico  of  the  Capitol,  there, 
with  the  statue  of  the  Goddess  of  Liberty  looking  down 
for  the  first  time  from  her  lofty  pedestal  on  such  a  scene, 
to  witness  and  participate  in  the  inauguration  of  the 
Elect  of  the  American  people.  And  now,  thanking  you 
most  truly  for  the  approbation  of  my  official  conduct 
which  you  have  recorded  on  your  journal,  I  declare  the 
House  of  Eepresentatives  of  the  Thirty-eighth  Congress 
of  the  United  States  adjourned  sine  die" 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE  CONTEMPLATED  OVERLAND  JOURNEY — THE  LAST 
GOOD-BYE  OF  MR.  LINCOLN — THE  PRESIDENT'S  ASSAS 
SINATION — MR.  COLFAX'S  EULOGY  UPON  THE  MAR 
TYRED  PRESIDENT. 

BEFORE  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  Mr.   Colfax  had 
planned  an  overland  journey  to  California  and  Oregon. 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  251 

He  had  expected  to  take  this  journey  during  the  sum 
mer  of  1861.  The  breaking  out  of  the  war  caused  its 
indefinite  postponement.  In  the  spring  of  1865,  when 
every  thing  gave  promise  of  the  speedy  extinction  of 
the  Confederacy,  this  journey  was  again  determined 
upon.  Upon  the  14th  of  April,  Mr.  Colfax  was  in 
Washington.  He  called  early  in  the  morning  upon  the 
President.  Mr.  Lincoln  spent  over  an  hour  with  him 
conversing  in  regard  to  the  future,  and  explaining  how 
he  hoped  to  heal  the  wounds  of  the  war,  and  build  upon 
a  sure  foundation  the  great  Republic.  He  also  received 
from  Mr.  Lincoln  a  message  for  the  miners  of  the  far 
West.  In  the  early  evening,  Mr.  Colfax  in  company 
with  Mr.  George  Ashmun  of  Massachusetts,  who  had 
presided  over  the  Chicago  Convention  that  nominated 
Mr.  Lincoln  for  President,  again  called  upon  him. 
Amidst  the  rejoicings  in  Washington  that  day,  on 
account  of  the  successive  national  victories,  it  had  been 
announced  by  the  papers  of  the  day,  that  General 
Grant,  who  had  just  returned  to  Washington  from  his 
final  victory  over  Lee,  and  the  President,  would  be  at 
Ford's  theatre  that  night.  General  Grant  had  an 
engagement,  which  prevented  him  from  attending.  The 
President  was  reluctant  upon  that  occasion  to  attend,  but 
was  persuaded  to  go,  that  the  people  might  not  be  disap 
pointed.  Mr.  Colfax  walked  from  the  parlor  to  the 
door  with  the  President,  and  at  the  door  bade  him 
"  good-bye,"  declining  his  invitation  to  accompany  him 
to  the  theatre,  on  account  of  his  own  engagements  that 
evening.  It  was  doubtless  the  last  good-bye  ever  ut- ' 
tered  by  the  President.  It  was  the  fatal  night  of  his 
assassination. 

No  one,  outside  of  the  immediate  family  of  tie  mar- 


252  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

tyred  President,  felt  more  keenly  or  deeply  than  Mr. 
Colfax  the  demoniacal  crime  that  robbed  the  country  of 
its  good  President  and  wise  and  patriotic  head.  One  of 
the  finest  eulogies  of  President  Lincoln  and  most  faithful 
portraitures  of  his  character,  came  almost  impromptu 
from  the  heart  of  Mr.  Colfax.  After  his  return  from 
Washington,  it  was  written  during  a  single  night  for  his 
"riends  and  neighbors  at  South  Bend.  It  was  repeated 
oy  invitation  of  the  Christian  Commission  at  Bryan 
Hall,  Chicago,  Sabbath  evening,  April  30th,  to  an 
audience  which  crowded  the  hall  an  hour  before  the 
time  of  its  delivery.  It  is  a  delineation  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
character,  which  will  not  be  permitted  to  die,  and  is 
alike  worthy  of  its  exalted  subject  and  its  author : 

EULOGY  UPON   THE   LIFE   AND   PEINCIPLES 
OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

"  Over  two  centuries  and  a  half  have  passed  away  since 
the  ruler  of  any  great  nation  of  the  world  has  fallen  by 
the  murderous  attack  of  an  assassin ;  and  for  the  first 
time  in  our  history  there  is  blood  on  the  Presidential 
chair  of  our  Eepublic.  Death  is  almost  always  sadden 
ing.  The  passing  away  of  some  dear  friend  from  our 
earthly  sight  forever,  fills  the  heart  with  sorrow.  When 
it  strikes  down  one  who  fills  honorably  a  position  of 
Influence  and  power,  as  in  the  case  of  our  two  Presidents 
who  died  of  disease  in  the  White  House,  the  sincerest 
grief  is  felt  throughout  the  land.  But  when  this  afflic 
tion  is  aggravated  by  death  coming  through  the  hand 
of  a  murderer,  it  is  not  strange  that  the  wave  of  woe 
sweeps  gloomily  over  a  nation,  which  sits  down  to  mourn 
in  sackcloth,  its  pulses  of  business  stilled,  feeling  in 
every  individual  heart  as  if  there  was  one  dead  at  our 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  253 

own  hearth -stones.  It  seems,  too,  as  if  this  wicked  deed 
was  intensified,  in  all  its  horror,  by  every  attendant 
circumstance.  The  fatal  shot  was  fired  on  the  very  day 
when  the  Nation's  flag  was  again  unfurled  in  triumph 
over  that  fort  in  Charleston  harbor,  which,  in  four  years' 
time,  had  been  the  cradle  and  the  grave  of  the  rebellion. 
It  was  at  a  time  when  the  death  of  the  President  could 
not  be  of  the  slightest  avail  to  the  treasonable  conspiracy 
against  the  Republic,  which  its  military  leaders  acknowl 
edged  at  last  was  powerless  and  overthrown.  And  it 
was  aimed,  alas,  with  too  sure  a  hand,  at  the  life  of  that 
one  man  in  the  Government  whose  heart  was  tenderest 
towards  the  would-be  assassins  of  the  Nation's  life. 

"You  may  search  history,  ancient  and  modern,  and 
when  the  task  is  ended,  all  will  concede  that  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  the  most  merciful  ruler  who  ever  put  down 
a  powerful  rebellion.  He  had  so  won  the  hearts  of  the 
people,  and  so  entwined  himself  in  their  regard  and 
affection,  that  he  was  the  only  man  living  who  could 
have  stood  in  the  breach  between  the  leaders  of  this 
iniquity  and  the  wrath  of  the  country  they  had  plunged 
into  bloody  war.  Feeling,  as  so  many  did,  that  his 
kindly  heart  almost  forgot  justice  in  its  throbbings  for 
mercy,  yet,  knowing  his  unfaltering  devotion  to  his 
country,  his  inflexible  adherence  to  principle,  his  un 
yielding  determination  for  the  restoration  of  our  national 
unity,  there  was  a  trust  in  him,  almost  filial  in  its  loving 
confidence,  that  whatever  he  should  finally  resolve  on 
would  prove  in  the  end  to  be  for  the  best.  Had  he  been 
an  unforgiving  ruler ;  had  his  daily  practice  been  to  sit 
in  his  high  place,  and  there  administer  with  unrelenting 
severity  the  penalties  of  offended  law ;  had  he  proclaimed 
his  resolution  to  consign  all  the  plotters  against  his  coun- 


254  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

try  to  the  gallows  they  had  earned,  we  might  have  un 
derstood  why  the  rebel  assassins  conspired  against  his 
life.  But  no  assassination  in  history — not  even  that  of 
Henry  IV.,  of  France,  for  which  Kavaillac  was  torn  in 
pieces  by  horses,  nor  William  of  Orange — approximates 
in  utter  unpalliated  infamy  to  this. 

"  In  the  midst  of  the  national  rejoicings  over  the  as 
sured  triumph  of  the  national  cause,  with  illuminations 
and  bonfires  blazing  in  every  town,  and  the  merry  peal 
of  the  festive  bell  in  every  village,  our  cities  blossoming 
with  flags,  our  hearts  beating  high  with  joy,  the  two 
great  armies  of  Grant  and  Lee  fraternizing  together  after 
their  long  warfare,  and  exulting  together  over  the  return 
of  peace,  we  were  brought,  in  a  single  moment,  from 
the  utmost  heights  of  felicity  to  the  deepest  valleys  of 
lamentation.  No  wonder  that  rebel  Generals  acknowl 
edged  that  it  sent  down  their  cause,  through  all  the 
coming  centuries,  to  shameless  dishonor.  For,  disguise 
it,  as  some  may  seek  to  do,  behind  the  form  of  the  assas 
sin,  as  his  finger  pulled  the  fatal  trigger,  looms  up  the 
dark  and  fiendish  spirit  of  the  rebellion,  which,  baffled 
in  its  work  of  assassinating  "the  nation's  life,  avenged 
itself  on  the  life  of  him  who  represented  the  nation's 
contest  and  the  nation's  victory.  As  surely  as  the  in 
famous  offer  of  twenty-five  thousand  crowns  by  Philip 
of  Spain  to  whomsoever  would  rid  the  world  of  the 
pious  William  of  Orange,  the  purest  and  best-loved 
ruler  of  his  times,  who,  by  a  striking  coincidence,  was 
called  Father  William,  as  we  called  our  beloved  Presi 
dent  Father  Abraham — as  .  surely  as  this  public  offefy 
with  its  false  denunciations  of  William's  offences,  in 
spirited  the  murderous  Balthazar  to  shoot  him  through 
the  body — so  surely  are  the  chiefs  of  this  gigantic  re- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  255 

bell  ion  of  our  times  responsible  for  the  fatal  bullet  that 
carried  death  to  our  Chief  Magistrate,  and  filled  the 
land  with  unavailing  sorrow. 

"I  can  scarcely  trust  myself  to  attempt  the  portraiture 
of 'our  martyred  chief,  whose  death  is  mourned  as  never 
man's  was  mourned  before ;  and  who,  in  all .  the  ages 
that  may  be  left  to  America,  while  time  shall  last,  will 
be  enshrined  in  solemn  memory  with  the  Father  of  the 
Eepublic  which  he  saved.  How  much  I  loved  him  per 
sonally,  I  cannot  express  to  you.  Honored  always  by 
his  confidence ;  treated  ever  by  him  with  affectionate  re 
gard  ;  sitting  often  with  him  familiarly  at  his  table*;  his 
last  visitor  on  that  terrible  night;  receiving  his  last 
message,  full  of  interest  to  the  toiling  miners  of  the  dis 
tant  West ;  walking  by  his  side  from  his  parlor  to  his 
door,  as  he  took  his  last  steps  in  that  Executive  Mansion 
he  had  honored ;  receiving  the  last  grasp  of  that  gener 
ous  and  loving  hand,  and  his  last,  last  good-bye ;  de 
clining  his  last  kind  invitation  to  join  him  in  those 
hours  of  relaxation  which  incessant  care  and  anxiety 
seemed  to  render  so  desirable,  my  mind  has  since  been 
tortured  with  .regrets  that  I  had  not  accompanied  him. 
If  the  knife  which  the  assassin  had  intended  for  Grant 
had  not  been  wasted,  as  it  possibly  would  not  have  been, 
on  one  of  so  much  less  importance  in  our  national  af 
fairs,  perchance  a  sudden  backward  look  at  that  eventful 
instant  might  have  saved  that,  life,  so  incalculably  pre 
cious  to  wife  and  children  and  country ;  or,  failing  in 
that,  might  have  hindered  or  prevented  the  escape  of  his 
murderer.  The  willingness  of  any  man  to  endanger  his 
-ife  for  another's  is  so  much  doubted  that  I  can  scarcely 
dare  to  say  how  willingly  I  would  have  risked  my  own 
to  preserve  his,  of  such  priceless  value  to  us  all.  But  if 


256  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

you  can  realize  that  it  is  sweet  to  die  for  one's  country, 
as  so  many  scores  of  thousands,  from  every  State  and 
county  and  hamlet,  have  proved  in  the  years  that  are- 
past;you  can  imagine  the  consolation  there  would  be  to 
any  one,  even  in  his  expiring  hours,  to  feel  that  he  had' 
saved  the  land  from  the  funereal  gloom  which,  but  a  few 
days  ago,  settled  down  upon  it  from  ocean  to  ocean,  and 
from  Capitol  to  cabin,  at  the  loss  of  one  for  whom  even  a 
hecatomb  of  victims  could  not  atone. 

"  Of  this  noble-hearted  man,  so  full  of  genial  impulses, 
so  self-forgetful,  so  utterly  unselfish,  so  pure,  and  gentle, 
and  good,  who  lived  for  us,  and  at  last  died  for  us,  I  feel 
how  inadequate  I  am  to  portray  his  manifold  excellen 
cies — his  intellectual  worth — his  generous  character — his 
fervent  patriotism.  Pope  celebrated  the  memory  of 
Robert  Harley,  the  Earl  of  Oxford,  a  privy  counsellor 
of  Queen  Anne,  who  himself  narrowly  escaped  assassi 
nation,  in  lines  that  seem  prophetic  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
virtues : 

"  '  A  soul  supreme,  in  each  hard  instance  tried  ; 
Above  all  pain,  all  anger,  and  all  pride, 
The  rage  of  power,  the  blast  of  public  breath, 
The  lust  of  lucre,  and  the  dread  of  death.' 

"  No  one  could  ever  convince  the  President  that  he  was 
in  danger  of 'violent  death.  Judging  others  by  himself, 
he  could  not  realize  that  any  one  could  seek  his  blood. 
Or  he  may  have  believed,  as  Napoleon  wrote  to  Jerome, 
that  no  public  man  could  effectually  shield  himself  from 
the  danger  of  assassination.  Easier  of  access  to  the 
public  at  large  than  had  been  any  of  his  predecessors ; 
admitting  his  bitterest  enemies  to  his  reception-room 
alone ;  restive  under  the  cavalry  escort  which  Secretary 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co  If  ax.  257 

Stan  ton  insisted  should  accompany  him  last  summer  in 
his  daily  journeys  between  the  "White  House  and  his 
summer  residence,  at  the  Soldier's  Home,  several  miles 
from  Washington,  at  a  time,  too,  as  since  ascertained  in 
the  details  of  this  long-organized  plot,  discovered  since 
his  death,  when  it  was  intended  to  gag  and  handcuff 
him  and  to  carry  him  to  the  rebel  capital  as  a  hostage 
for  their  recognition ;  sometimes  escaping  from  their 
escort  by  anticipating  their  usual  hour  of  attendance ; 
walking  about  the  grounds  unattended ;  he  could  not  be 
persuaded  that  he  ran  any  risk  whatever.  Being  at 
City  Point  after  the  evacuation  of  Eichmond,  he  deter 
mined  to  go  thither,  not  from  idle  curiosity,  but  to  see 
if  he  could  not  do  something  to  stop  the  effusion  of 
blood  and  hasten  the  peace  for  which  he  longed.  The 
ever- watchful  Secretary  of  War  hearing  of  it,  implored 
him  by  telegraph  not  to  go,  and  warned  him  that  some 
lurking  assassin  might  take  his  life.  But,  armed  with 
his  good  intentions — alas,  how  feeble  a  shield  they 
proved  against  the  death-blow  afterwards — he  went, 
walked  fearlessly  and  carelessly  through  the  streets — 
met  and  conferred  with  a  rebel  leader  who  remained 
there ;  and  when  he  returned  to  City  Point  telegraphed 
to  his  faithful  friend  and  constitutional  adviser,  who  till 
then  had  feared,  as  we  all  did  at  that  time,  for  his  life : 


"  'I  received  your  despatch  last  night;  went  to  Eich 
mond  this  morning,  and  have  just  returned. 

"'ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.' 


'*  When  I  told  him,  on  that  last  night,  how  uneasy  all 
had  been  at  his  going,  he  replied,  pleasantly  and  with  a 
smile,  (I  quote  his  exact  words :) 


258  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"'Why,  if  any  one  else  had  been  President,  and  had 
gone  to  Richmond,  I  would  have  been  alarmed  too ; 
but  I  was  not  scared  about  myself  a  bit.' 

"If  any  of  you  have  ever  been  in  Washington,  you  will 
remember  the  footpath,  lined  and  embowered  with  trees, 
leading  from  the  back  door  of  the  War  Department  to 
the  White  House.  One  night,  and  but  recently,  too, 
when,  in  his  anxiety  for  news  from  the  army,  he  had 
been  with  the  Secretary  in  the  telegraph  office  of  the 
department,  he  was  about  starting  home  at  a  late  hour 
by  this  short  route.  Mr.  Stanton  stopped  him  and  said, 
'You  ought  not  to  go  that  way ;  it  is  dangerous  for  you 
even  in  the  day-time,  but  worse  at  night.'  Mr.  Lincoln 
replied,  '  I  don't  believe  there's  any  danger  there,  day 
or  night.'  Mr.  Stanton  responded  solemnly,  '  Well, 
Mr.  President,  you  shall  not  be  killed  returning  that 
dark  way  from  my  department  while  I  am  in  it ;  you 
must  let  me  take  you  round  by  the  avenue  in  my  car 
riage.'  And  Mr.  Lincoln,  joking  the  Secretary  on  his 
imperious  military  orders,  and  his  needless  alarm  on 
his  account,  as  he  called  it,  entered  his  carriage,  and 
was  driven  by  the  well-lighted  avenue  to  the  White 
House. 

"  And  thus  he  walked  through  unseen  dangers,  without 
'the  dread  of  death;'  his  warm  heart  so  full  of  good 
will,  even  to  his  enemies,  that  he  could  not  imagine 
there  was  any  one  base  enough  to  slay  him ;  and  the 
death- dealing  bullet  was  sped  to  its  mark  in  a  theatre, 
where,  but  little  over  an  hour  before,  he  had  been  wel 
comed  as  he  entered,  by  a  crowded  audience  rising,  and 
with  cheers  and  waving  of  handkerchiefs,  honoring  him 
with  an  ovation  of  which  any  one  might  well  be  proud. 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  259 

Some  regret  that  he  was  there  at  all.  But,  to  al]  human 
appearance,  he  was  safer  there,  by  far,  than  in  his  own 
reception-room,  where  unknown  visitors  so  often  entered 
alone.  He  found  there  a  temporary  respite  occasionally 
from  the  crowds  who  thronged  his  ante-rooms — relaxa 
tion  from  the  cares  and  perplexities  which  so  constantly 
oppressed  him,  keeping  his  mind  under  the  severest 
tension,  like  the  bent  bow,  till  it  almost  lost  its  spring — 
and,  on  this  fatal  night,  to  be  so  black  a  one  hereafter 
in  our  calendar,  going  with  reluctance,  and,  as  he  ex 
pressed  it  to  Mr.  Ashmun  and  myself,  only  because 
General  Grant,  who  had  been  advertised  with  himself, 
to  be  present,  had  been  compelled  to  leave  the  city,  and 
he  did  not  wish  to  disappoint  those  who  would  expect 
to  see  him  there. 

"  To  those  who  have  expressed  their  regrets  that  the 
murderer  found  him  in  a  theatre,  let  me  further  add, 
that,  by  the  etiquette  of  Washington,  the  President  is 
prohibited  from  making  or  returning  calls,  except  in 
the  case  of  the  dangerous  illness  of  some  intimate  friend. 
If  he  made  one  social  visit,  the  thousands  whom  he  could 
not  call  on,  and  especially  distinguished  strangers  from 
abroad,  would  feel  the  discrimination.  And  hence,  a 
President,  not  able  to  enjoy  a  social  evening  at  some 
friend's  residence,  as  all  of  us  can,  must  remain  within 
the  four  walls  of  the  White  House,  or  seek  relaxation 
from  the  engrossing  cares  which  always  confront  him 
there  from  sunrise  till  midnight,  at  some  public  place 
of  amusement.  I  remember,  that,  when  we  heard  of 
those  bloody  battles  of  the  Wilderness  which  any  one 
less  persistent  than  General  Grant  would  have  regarded 
as  reverses  that  justified  retreat,  Mr.  Lincoln  went  to  the 
'opera,  saying : 


260  Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax. 

"'People  may  think  strange  of  it,  but  I  must  have 
some  relief  from  this  terrible  anxiety,  or  it  will  kill 
me.' 

"Of  the  many  thousands  of  persons  I  have  met  in 
public  or  private  life,  I  cannot  call  to  mind  a  single  one 
who  exceeded  him  in  calmness  of  temper,  in  kindness 
of  disposition,  and  in  overflowing  generosity  of  impulse. 
I  .doubt  if  his  most  intimate  associate  ever  heard  him 
utter  bitter  or  vindictive  language.  He  seemed  wholly 
free  from  malignity  or  revenge ;  from  ill-will  or  injustice. 
Attacked  ever  so  sharply,  you  all  remember  that  he 
never  answered  railing  with  railing.  Criticized  ever  so 
unjustly,  he  would  reply  with  no  word  of  reproof,  but 
patiently  and  uncomplainingly,  if  he  answered  at  all, 
strive  to  prove  that  he  stood  on  the  rock  of  right.  When 
from  the  halls  of  Congress  or  elsewhere,  his  most  earnest 
opponents  visited  the  White  House  with  business,  they 
would  be  met  as  frankly,  listened  to  as  intently,  and 
treated  as  justly  as  his  most  earnest  friends.  It  could 
be  said  of  him  as  Pyrrhus  said  of  Fabricius  when  the 
latter,  though  in  hostile  array,  exposed  to  his  enemy  the 
treachery  of  his  physician,  who  proffered  to  poison  him  : 
'It  is  easier  to  turn  the  sun  from  his  course  than  Fabri 
cius  from  his  honesty.'  Men  of  all  parties  will  remem 
ber,  when  the  exciting  contest  of  last  fall  ended  in  his 
triumphant  re-election,  his  first  word  thereafter,  from 
the  portico  of  the  White  House,  was,  that  he  could  not, 
and  would  not,  exult  over  his  countrymen  who  had  dif 
fered  from  his  policy. 

"  And  thus  he  ruled,  and  thus  he  lived,  and  thus  he 
died.  The  wretch  who  stood  behind  him  and  sent  his 
bullet  crashing  through  that  brain,  which  had  been  de 
vising  plans  of  reconciliation  with  the  country's  deadly 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  261 

foes,  as  he  leaped  upon  the  stage  and  exulted  over  the 
death  of  him  whom  he  denounced  as  a  tyrant,  uttered 
as  foul  a  falsehood  as  the  lying  witnesses  who  caused 
the  conviction  and  the  crucifixion  of  the  Son  of  Man, 
on  the  same  Good  Friday,  nearly  two  thousand  years 
ago.  I  would  not  compare  the  human  with  the  Divine, 
except  in  that  immeasurable  contrast  of  the  finite  with 
the  Infinite.  But  his  whole  life  proves  to  me  that  if  he 
could  have  had  a  single  moment  of  consciousness  and 
of  speech,  his  great  heart  would  have  prompted  him  to 
pray  for  those  who  had  plotted  for  his  blood,  '  Father, 
forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do.'" 

"He  bore  the  nation's  perils  and  trials  and  sorrows 
ever  on  his  mind.  You  knew  him,  in  a  large  degree, 
by  the  illustrative  stories,  of  which  his  memory  and  his 
tongue  were  so  prolific,  using  them  to  point  a  moral,  or 
to  soften  discontent  at  his  decisions;  but  this  was  the 
mere  badinage  which  relieved  him  for  the  moment 
from  the  heavy  weight  of  public  duties  and  responsi 
bilities  under  which  he  often  wearied.  Those  whom  he 
admitted  to  his  confidence,  and  with  whom  he  conversed 
of  his  feelings,  knew  that  his  inner  life  was  chequered 
with  the  deepest  anxiety  and  most  discomforting  solici 
tude.  Elated  by  victories  for  the  cause  which  was  ever 
in  his  thoughts,  reverses  to  our  arms  cast  a  pall  of  de 
pression  over  him.  One  morning,  over  two  years  ago. 
calling  upon  him  on  business,  I  found  him  looking  more 
than  usually  pale  and  care-worn,  and  inquired  the  reason. 
He  replied,  with  the  bad  news  he  had  received  at  a  late 
hour  the  previous  night,  which  had  not  yet  been  com 
municated  to  the  press,  adding  that  he  had  not  closed 
his  eyes  or  breakfasted ;  and,  with  an  expression  I  shall 
never  forget,  he  exclaimed : 
16 


262  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

" '  How  willingly  would  I  exchange  places  to-day  with 
the  soldier  who  sleeps  on  the  ground  in  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac.' 

"  He  was  as  free  from  deceit  as  guile.  He  had  one 
peculiarity,  which  often  misled  those  with  whom  he 
conversed.  When  his  judgment,  which  acted  slowly, 
but  which  was  almost  as  immovable  as  the  eternal  hills 
when  settled,  was  grasping  some  subject  of  importance, 
the  arguments  against  his  own  desire  seemed  uppermost 
in  his  mind;  and  in  conversing  upon  it,  he  would  pre 
sent  these  arguments  to  see  if  they  could  be  rebutted. 
He  thus  often  surprised  both  friend  and  foe  in  his  final 
decisions.  Always  willing  to  listen  to  all  sides  till  the 
last  possible  moment,  yet  when  he  put  down  his  foot, 
he  never  took  a  backward  step.  Once  speaking  of  an 
eminent  statesman,  he  said : 

"'When  a  question  confronts  him,  he  always  and 
naturally  argues  it  from  the  stand-point  of  which  is  the 
better  policy ;  but  with  me/  he  added,  '  my  only  desire 
is  to  see  what  is  right.' 

"And  this  is  the  key  to  his  life.  His  parents  left  Ken 
tucky  for  Indiana,  in  his  childhood,  on  account  of  slavery 
in  the  former  State ;  and  he  thus  inherited  a  dislike  for 
that  institution.  As  he  said  recently  to  Governor  Bram- 
lette,  of  his  native  State,  'If  slavery  be  not  wrong, 
nothing  is  wrong.'  Moving  to  Illinois,  he  found  the 
prejudice  there  against  anti-slavery  men,  when  he 
entered  on  public  and  professional  life,  more  intense 
than  in  any  other  free  State  in  the  Union.  But  he  never 
dissembled,  never  concealed  his  opinions.  Entering,  in 
1858,  on  that  great  contest  with  his  political  rival,  but 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax.  263 

personal  friend,  Judge  Douglas,  which  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  whole  Union,  he  startled  many  of  his 
friends  by  the  declaration  of  his  conviction  that  the 
*Union  could  not  permanently  endure  half-slave  and 
half-free ;  that  ultimately  it  would  be  either  the  one  or 
the  other,  or  be  a  divided  house  that  could  not  stand ; 
that  he  did  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved,  or  the 
house  to  fall,  but  that  it  would  cease  to  be  divided ;  and 
that  the  hope  of  the  Republic  was  in  staying  the  spread 
of  slavery,  that  the  public  mind  might  rest  in  the  hope 
of  its  ultimate  extinction.  And  though  he  coupled  this 
with  declarations  against  Congressional  interference  with 
it  in  existing  States,  it  was  not  popular,  and  kept  him 
in  the  whole  canvass  upon  the  defensive.  But  to  every 
argument  against  it,  his  calm  reply  was,  in  substance, 
'such  is  my  clear  conviction,  and  I  cannot  unsay  it.' 

"His  frankness  in  expressing  unpopular  opinions  was 
manifested,  also,  when  in  Southern  Illinois,  before  an 
audience  almost  unanimously  hostile  to  the  sentiment, 
he  declared,  in  the  same  close  and  doubtful  contest,  that, 
when  the  Declaration  of  Independence  proclaimed  that 
all  men  were  created  equal,  it  did  not  mean  white  men 
alone,  but  negroes  as  well ;  and  that  their  rights  to  life, 
liberty,  and  happiness  were  as  inalienable  as  the  noblest 
of  the  land.  He  claimed  no  power  over  State  laws  in 
other  States  which  conflicted  with  these  rights,  or  cur 
tailed  them ;  but  with  unfaltering  devotion  to  his  con 
scientious  conviction,  and  regardless  of  its  effects  on  his 
political  prospects,  he  never  wavered  in  his  adherence 
to  this  truth. 

"And  yet,  when  elected  President  of  the  United  States, 
he  executed  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  because  his  oath 
of  office  as  the  Executive,  in  his  opinion,  required  it. 


264  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

When  urged  to  strike  at  slavery  under  the  war  power, 
he  replied,  in  a  widely-published  letter : 

" '  My  paramount  object  is  to  save  the  Union,  and  I 
would  save  it  in  the  shortest  way.  If  I  could  save  the 
Union  without  freeing  any  slaves,  I  would  do  it.  If  I 
could  save  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves,  I  would  do  it ; 
and  if  I  could  do  it  by  freeing  some  and  letting  others 
alone,  I  would  also  do  that.  But  I  intend  no  modifica 
tion  of  my  oft-expressed  wish  that  all  men  everywhere 
could  be  free.' 


"  And  when  at  last  the  hour  arrived  when,  in  his  honest 
opinion,  the  alternative  between  the  death  of  slavery  and 
the  death  of  the  Union  confronted  him ;  then,  and  not 
till  then,  he  struck  at  the  cause  of  all  our  woes  with  the 
battle-axe  of  the  Union.  Signing  that  immortal  procla 
mation,  which  made  him  the  Liberator  of  America,  on 
the  afternoon  of  January  1st,  1863,  after  hours  of  New 
Year's  hand-shaking,  he  said  to  me  and  other  friends, 
that  night : 

"  '  The  signature  looks  a  little  tremulous,  for  my  hand 
was  tired,  but  my  resolution  was  firm.  I  told  them,  in 
September,  if  they  did  not  return  to  their  allegiance, 
and  cease  murdering  our  soldiers,  I  would  strike  at 
this  pillar  of  their  strength.  And  now  the  promise  shall 
be  kept ;  and  not  one  word  of  it  will  I  ever  recall.' 

"  And  the  promise  was  kept,  and  every  word  of  it  has 
-stood.  Thank  God,  when  slavery  and  treason  benumbed 
that  hand  in  death,  they  could  not  destroy  the  noble 
instrument  to  which  that  hand  had  given  a  life  that  shall 
never  die.  A  great  writer  said,  that,  when  Wilberforce 
stood  at  the  bar  of  God,  he  held  in  his  hands  the  broken 


Life  of  Schuykr  Co1  fax.  265 

shackles  which  on  earth  had  bound  hundreds  of  thou 
sands  of  his  fellow-men.  But,  when  baffled  treason 
hurried  Abraham  Lincoln  into  the  presence  of  his 
Maker,  he  bore  with  him  the  manacles  of  four  millions 
whom  he  had  made  free — fetters  that  no  power  on  God's 
footstool  is  strong  enough  to  place  again  on  their  en 
franchised  limbs. 

"  No  man,  in  our  era,  clothed  with  such  vast  power, 
has  ever  used  it  so  mercifully.  No  ruler,  holding  the 
keys  of  life  and  death,  ever  pardoned  so  many  and  so 
easily.  When  friends  said  to  him  they  wished  he  had 
more  of  Jackson's  sternness,  he  would  say,  '  I  am  just 
as  God  made  me,  and  cannot  change.'  It  may  not  be 
generally  known  that  his  doorkeepers  had  standing 
orders  from  him,  that  no  matter  how  great  might  be  the 
throng,  if  other  Senators  and  Eepresentatives  had  to 
wait,  or  be  turned  away  without  an  audience,  he  must 
see,  before  the  day  closed,  every  member  who  came  to 
him  with  a  petition  for  the  saving  of  life.  One  night,  in 
February,  I  left  all  other  business  to  ask  him  to  respite 
the  son  of  a  constituent,  who  was  sentenced  to  be  shot 
at  Davenport,  for  desertion.  He  heard  the  story  with 
his  usual  patience,  though  he  was  wearied  out  with  in 
cessant  calls,  and  anxious  for  rest,  and  then  replied : 

"  '  Some  of  our  Generals  complain  that  I  impair  disci 
pline  and  subordination  in  the  army,  by  my  pardons  and 
respites,  but  it  makes  me  rested,  after  a  day's  hard  work, 
if  I  can  find  some  good  excuse  for  saving  a  man's  life ; 
and  I  go  to  bed  happy,  as  I  think  how  joyous  the  sign 
ing  of  my  name  will  make  him  and  his  family  and  his 
friends.' 

"And  with  a  happy  smile,  beaming  over  that  care- 
furrowed  face,  he  signed  that  name  that  saved  that  life. 


266  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"  But  Abraham  Lincoln  was  not  only  a  good,  and  a 
just,  and  a  generous,  and  a  humane  man.  I  could  not 
be  just  to  that  well-rounded  character  of  his  without 
adding  that  he  was  also  a  praying  man.  He  has  often 
said  that  his  reliance,  in  the  gloomiest  hours,  was  on  his 
God,  to  whom  he  appealed  in  prayer,  although  he  never 
had  become  a  professor  of  religion.  To  a  clergyman 
who  asked  him  if  he  loved  his  Saviour,  he  replied,  and 
he  was  too  truthful  for  us  to  doubt  the  declaration: 

"  '  "When  I  was  first  inaugurated,  I  did  not  love  Him ; 
when  God  took  my  son,  I  was  greatly  impressed,  but 
still  I  did  not  love  him ;  but  when  I  stood  upon  the 
battle-field  of  Gettysburg,  I  gave  my  heart  to  Christ,  and 
I  can  now  say,  I  do  love  the  Saviour.' 

"  Two  of  my  fellow-members,  Messrs.  Wilson,  of  Iowa, 
and  Casey,  of  Kentucky,  called  on  him  at  one  of  those 
periods  when  reverses  had  dispirited  the  people.  Con 
versing  about  the  prospects  of  our  country,  one  of  them 
said :  '  Well,  Mr.  President,  I  have  faith  that  Providence 
is  with  us ;  and  if  the  people  are  but  true  to  the  cause, 
all  will  be  right.'  Mr.  Lincoln  gravely  replied,  with 
deep  solemnity  in  his  tone : 

"  '  I  have  a  higher  faith  than  yours.  I  have  faith,  not 
only  that  God  is  with  our  cause,  but  that  he  will  control 
the  hearts  of  the  people  so  that  they  will  be  faithful  to 
it  too. 

"  The  Bible  was  always  in  his  reception-room.  I  have 
doubted  the  report  that  he  read  an  hour  in  it  every  day, 
for  he  often  came  direct  from  his  bed  to  his  reception- 
room,  so  anxious  was  he  to  accommodate  members  who 
had  important  business,  and  it  would  sometimes  be  two 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  267 

or  three  hours  before  he  would  playfully  say  to  some 
friend  whose  turn  had  come,  '  Won't  you  stay  here  till 
I  get  some  breakfast  ?'  But  he  must  have  read  the 
Bible  considerably,  for  he  often  quoted  it.  One  day 

that  I  happened  to  come  in,  he  said,  'Mr. has  just 

been  here  attacking  one  of  my  Cabinet,  but  I  stopped 
him  with  this  text,'  and  he  read  from  the  Proverbs  a 
text  I  had  never  heard  quoted  before,  as  follows  :  '  Ac 
cuse  not  a  servant  to  his  master.' 

"  You  cannot  fail  to  have  noticed  the  solemn  and  some 
times  almost  mournful  strain  that  pervades  many  of  his 
addresses.  When  he  left  Springfield,  in  1861,  to  assume 
the  Presidency,  his  farewell  words  were  as  follows: 

11 1  MY  FRIENDS  :  No  one  in  my  position  can  appre 
ciate  the  sadness  I  feel  at  this  parting.  To  this  people 
I  owe  all  that  I  am.  Here  I  have  lived  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century ;  here  my  children  were  born,  and 
here  one  of  them  lies  buried.  /  knoiv  not  how  soon  I 
shall  see  you  again.  A  duty  devolves  upon  me,  which 
is,  perhaps,  greater  than  that  which  has  devolved  upon 
any  other  man  since  the  days  of  Washington.  He  never 
would  have  succeeded  except  .for  the  aid  of  Divine 
Providence,  upon  which  he  at  all  times  relied.  I  feel 
that  I  cannot  succeed  without  the  same  Divine  aid 
which  sustained  him,  and  on  the  same  Almighty  Being 
I  place  my  reliance  for  support ;  and  I  hope  that  you, 
my  friends,  will  all  pray  that  I  may  receive  that  Divine 
assistance,  without  which  I  cannot  succeed,  but  with 
which  success  is  certain.  Again  I  bid  you  an  affection 
ate  farewell.' 

"  Before  that  murderous  blow  closed  his  eyes  in  death, 
that  *  success'  for  which  he  had  struggled  was  assured 
—that  '  duty'  devolved  upon  him  had  been  performed. 
But  the  friends  to  whom,  with  'the  sadness  he  felt  at 


268  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

parting/  he  bade  this  'affectionate  farewell,' can  only 
look  at  the  lifeless  corpse,  now  slowly  borne  to  their 
midst. 

"  When,  in  the  same  month,  he  raised  the  national  flag 
over  Independence  Hall,  at  Philadelphia,  he  said  to  the 
assembled  tens  of  thousands : 

"  'It  was  something  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
giving  Liberty,  not  only  to  the  people  of  this  country, 
but  hope  to  the  world  for  all  coming  time.  It  was  that 
which  gave  promise  that  in  due  time  the  weights  should 
be  lifted  from  the  shoulders  of  all  men,  and  that  all 
should  have  an  equal  chance.  *  *  Now,  my 

friends,  can  this  country  be  saved  upon  that  basis  ?  If 
it  can,  I  will  consider  myself  one  of  the  happiest  men 
in  the  world,  if  I  can  help  to  save  it.  But  if  this 
country  cannot  be  saved  without  giving  up  that  principle, 
I  was  about  to  say  that  I  would  rather  be  assassinated  upon 
the  spot  than  to  surrender  it !  I  have  said  nothing  but 
what  I  am  willing  to  live  by,  and  if  it  be  the  pleasure 
of  Almighty  God,  to  die  by.' 

"He  seemed,  as  he.  thus  spoke,  to  have  the  dark 
shadow  of  his  violent  death  before  him.  But  even  in 
its  presence  he  declared  that  he  would  rather  be  assas 
sinated  than  to  surrender  a  principle;  and  that  while  he 
was  willing  to  live  by  it,  yet,  if  it  was  God's  pleasure, 
he  was  equally  willing  to  die  by  it.  He  was  assassinated, 
but  his  name  and  principles  will  live  while  history  exists, 
and  the  Republic  endures. 

"  So,  too,  in  the  conclusion  of  his  first  inaugural,  he 
appealed  in  the  language  of  entreaty  and  peace  to  those 
who  had  raised  their  mailed  hands  against  the  life  of 
their  fatherland : 

"'You  can  have  no  conflict  without  being  yourselves 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  269 

the  aggressors.  You  can  have  no  oath  registered  in 
heaven  to  destroy  the  Government,  while  I  have  the 
most  solemn  one  to  preserve,  protect  and  defend  it. 
The  mystic  cords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every 
battle-field  and  patriot-grave  to  every  living  heart  and 
hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell 
the  chorus  of  the  Union,  when  again  touched,  as  surely 
they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature.' 

"  In  all  my  literary  reading,  I  have  never  found  a  more 
beautiful  and  touching  sentence  than  the  one  I  have 
quoted. 

"  In  the  funeral  exercises  in  the  East  Eoom,  on  the 
19th  of  April,  the  very  anniversary  of  the  day  when 
the  blood  of  murdered  Massachusetts  soldiers  stained 
the  stones  of  the  city  of  Baltimore,  Dr.  Gurley  quoted 
the  President's  solemn  reply  to  a  company  of  clergymen 
who  called  on  him  in  one  of  the  darkest  hours  of  the 
war,  when,  standing  where  his  lifeless  remains  then 
rested,  he  replied  to  them  in  tones  of  deep  emotion : 

" {  Gentlemen,  my  hope  of  success  in  this  great  and 
terrible  struggle  re*sts  on  that  immutable  foundation, 
the  justice  and  goodness  of  God.  And  when  events 
are  very  threatening  and  prospects  very  dark,  I  still 
hope  in  some  way,  which  man  cannot  see,  all  will  be 
well  in  the  end,  because  our  cause  is  just  and  God  is  on 
our  side.' 

"  You  cannot  have  forgotten  this  impressive  invocation 
with  which  he  closed  his  Proclamation  of  Emancipation. 

" '  And,  upon  this  act,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an  act 
of  justice,  warranted  by  the  Constitution  and  military 
necessity,  I  invoke  the  considerate  judgment  of  man 
kind,  and  the  gracious  favor  of  Almighty  God.' 


270  Life  of  Schuyler  Colfax. 

"  The  solemn  words  of  his  last  Inaugural  sound  in  my 
ears  to- day  as  I  heard  them  fall  from  his  lips  only  last 
month,  on  the  steps  of  the  Capitol.  There  was  no  ex 
ultation  over  his  own  success,  though  he  was  the  first 
Northern  President  who  had  ever  been  re-elected.  There 
was  no  bitterness  against  the  men  who  had  filled  our  land 
with  new-made  graves,  and  who  were  striving  to  stab 
the  nation  to  its  death.  There  was  no  confident  and 
enthusiastic  prediction  of  the  country's  triumph.  But 
with  almost  the  solemn  utterances  of  one  of  the  Hebrew 
prophets ;  as  if  he  felt  he  was  standing,  as  he  was,  on 
the  verge  of  his  open  grave,  and  addressing  his  last 
official  words  to  his  countrymen,  with  his  lips  touched 
by  the  finger  of  Inspiration,  he  said : 

"'The  Almighty  has  his  own  purposes.  'Woe  unto 
the  world  because  of  offences,  for  it  must  needs  be  that 
offences  come ;  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the  offence 
corneth.'  If  we  shall  suppose  that  American  slavery  is 
one  of  those  offences,  which  in  the  providence  of  God 
must  needs  come,  but  which  having  continued  through 
his  appointed  time,  he  now  wills  to  remove,  and  that  he 
gives  to  both  North  and  South  this  terrible  war  as  the 
woe  due  to  those  by  whom  the  offence  came,  shall  we 
discern  therein  any  departure  from  those  divine  attri 
butes  which  the  believers  in  a  living  God  always  attrib 
ute  to  him  ?  Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray, 
that  this  mighty  scourge  of  war  may  soon  pass  away. 
Yet,  if  God  wills  that  it  continue  until  all  the  wealth 
piled  by  the  bondman's  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of 
unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of 
blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  with  another 
drawn  with  the  sword,  as  was  said  three  thousand  years 
ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said,  'The  judgments  of  the  Lord 
are  true  and  righteous  altogether.' 

" '  With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all,  with 
firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right, 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  271 

let  us  strive  to  finish  the  work  we  are  in,  to  bind  up  the 
nation's  wounds,  to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne 
the  battle,  and  for  his  widow  and  his  orphans,  to  do  all 
which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace 
among  ourselves  and  with  all  nations.' 

"  What  a  portraiture  of  his  own  character  he  uncon 
sciously  draws  in  this  closing  paragraph : 

" '  With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all,  with 
firmness  in  the  right;  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right.' 

"  And  yet  they  slew  him. 

"As  this  extraordinary  State-paper  crossed  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Old  World,  it  elicited  the  most  profound  interest. 
Mr.  Gladstone,  himself  the  most  eloquent  of  English 
statesmen,  spoke  in  the  most  elevated  eulogy  of  it,  say 
ing  that  it  showed  a  moral  elevation  which  commanded 
the  highest  respect,  adding,  in  emphatic  language : 

" '  I  am  taken  captive  by  so  striking  an  utterance  as 
this ;  for  I  see  in  it  the  effect  of  sharp  trial,  when  rightly 
borne,  to  raise  men  to  a  higher  level  of  thought  and 
feeling  than  they  could  otherwise  reach.' 

"  And  the  British  Standard  declared  it — • 

'"The  most  remarkable  thing  of  the  sort  ever  pro 
nounced  by  any  President  of  the  United  States  from 
its  first  day  until  now.-  Its  Alpha  and  Omega  is 
Almighty  God,  the  God  of  Justice  an.d  the  Father  of 
Mercies,  who  is  working  out  the  purposes  of  his  love. 
It  is  invested  with  a  dignity  and  pathos  which  lift  it 
high  above  every  thing  of  the  kind,  whether  in  the  Old 
World  or  the  New.' 

"  Bear  with  me  further,  while  I  quote  one  letter,  when, 
in  the  midst  of  the  exciting  canvass  of  last  fall,  in  which 


272  'Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

he  was  so  deeply  interested,  during  the  very  week  he 
was  being  denounced  in  Chicago  as  scarcely  any  man 
had  ever  been  denounced  before,  he  shut  out  the 
thoughts  of  these  cruelly-unjust  aspersions,  to  write  in 
this  deeply-impressive  strain  to  a  Philadelphia  lady, 
then  resident  in  England : 

"'  EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 

"'WASHINGTON,  Sept.  6th,  1864. 

"'ELIZA  B.  GUKNEY — My  Esteemed  Friend:  I  have 
never  forgotten,  probably  never  shall  forget,  the  very 
impressive  occasion,  when  yourself  and  friends  visited 
me  on  a  Sabbath  forenoon,  two  years  ago,  nor  has  your 
kind  letter,  written  nearly  a  year  later,  ever  been  for 
gotten. 

" '  In  all  it  has  been  your  purpose  to  strengthen  my 
reliance  on  God.  I  am  much  indebted  to  the  good, 
Christian  people  of  the  country  for  their  constant 
prayers  and  consolations,  and  to  no  one  of  them  more 
than  yourself.  The  purposes  of  the  Almighty  are  per 
fect,  and  must  prevail,  though  we  erring  mortals  may 
fail  to  perceive  them  in  advance. 

"'We  hoped  for  a  happy  termination  of  this  terrible 
war  long  before  this,  but  God  knows  best,  and  has  ruled 
otherwise.  We  shall  acknowledge  his  wisdom  and  our 
own  errors  therein.  Meanwhile  we  must  work  ear 
nestly  in  the  best  light  he  gives  us,  trusting  that  so 
working  still  conduces  to  the  great  end  he  ordains. 
Surely  he  intends  some  great  good  to  follow  this  mighty 
convulsion,  which  no  mortal  could  stay.  Your  people 
— the  Friends — have  had,  and  are  having  very  great 
trials  on  principles  and  faith.'  " 

"  I  stop  here,  in  the  reading  of  this  letter,  to  draw  your 
attention  to  the  next  sentence,  which  illustrates  Mr. 
Lincoln's  power  in  stating  facts.  He  seemed  to  have 
the  ability  of  taking  a  great  truth,  a  living  principle,  or 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  273 

a  striking  argument,  out  of  all  the  mists  that  might  be 
gathered  around  it,  and  placing  it  b'efore  you  so  vividly 
in  a  single  sentence,  that  the  presentation  of  it  by  others 
iwould  contrast  with  his,  as  a  picture,  flat  before  your 
eyes,  compares  with  the  figures  in  the  same  picture 
brought  out  so  palpably  and  life-like  under  the  binocular 
mystery  of  the  stereoscope.  Witness  the  striking  con 
densation  and  unanswerable  argument  of  this  next 
sentence : 


"  '  Opposed  to  both  war  and  oppression,  tliey  can  only 
practically  oppose  oppression  by  war.  In  this  hard  di 
lemma  some  have  chosen  one  horn,- and  some  the  other. 
For  those  appealing  to  me  on  conscientious  grounds,  I 
have  done,  and  shall  do,  the  best  I  can  in  my  own  con 
science  and  my  oath  to  the  law.  That  you  believe  this 
I  doubt  not,  and,  believing  it,  I  shall  still  receive,  for 
our  country  and  myself,  your  earnest  prayers  to  our 
Father  in  Heaven.  "  'Your  sincere  friend, 

"  'A.  LINCOLN.' 


"Nor  should  I  forget  to  mention  here  that  the  last  act 
of  Congress  ever  signed  by  him  was  one  requiring  that 
the  motto,  in  which  he  sincerely  believed,  '  In  God  we 
trust,'  should  hereafter  be  inscribed  upon  all  our  national 
coin. 

"  But  April  came  at  last,  with  all  its  glorious  resurrec 
tion  of  spring — that  spring  which  he  was  not  to  see 
ripening  into  summer.  The  last  sands  in  the  hour-glass 
of  his  life  were  falling.  His  last  moment  drew  nigh, 
for  his  banded  assassins,  foiled  in  an  attempt  to  poison 
him  last  year,  (a  plot  only  discovered  since  detectives 
have  been  tracking  the  mysteries  of  his  death,)  had  re 
solved,  this  time,  on  striking  a  surer  blow.  Victory 


274  Life  of  Schuykr  Colfax. 

after  victory  crowned  our  national  armies.  A  hundred 
captured  rebel  banners  filled  the  War  Department. 
Scores  of  thousands  of  rebel  soldiers  had  surrendered ; 
and  all  over  the  Kepublic  the  joyous  acclaim  of  millions 
hailed  the  promised  land  of  Peace.  But  our  beloved 
leader  was  to  enter  another  land  of  rest.  Thank  Heaven, 
though  wicked  men  may  kill  the  body,  they  cannot  kill 
the  immortal  soul.  And  if  the  spirits  of  the  good  men 
who  have  left  us  are  permitted  to  look  back  on  the  land 
they  loved  in  life,  it  is  not  presumptuous  to  believe  that 
Washington  and  Lincoln,  from  the  shining  courts  above, 
look  down  to-day,  with  paternal  interest,  on  the  nation 
which,  under  Providence,  the  one  had  founded  and  the 
other  saved,  and  which  will  entwine  their  names  together 
in  hallowed  recollection  forever. 

"  But,  in  his  last  hours,  all  those  affectionate  traits  of 
character,  which  I  have  so  inadequately  delineated,  shone 
out  in  more  than  wonted  brilliancy.  How  his  kindly 
heart  must  have  throbbed  with  joy,  as,  on  the  very  day 
before  his  death,  he  gladdened  so  many  tens  of  thousands 
of  anxious  minds  by  ordering  the  abandonment  of  the 
impending,  but  now  not  needed  draft!  With  what 
generous  magnanimity  he  authorized  our  heroic  Lieu 
tenant-General  to  proffer  terms  unparalleled  in  their 
liberality,  to  the  Army  of  Virginia,  so  long  the  bulwark 
of  the  rebellion.  And  the  last  official  act  of  his  life 
was,  when  learning  by  telegraph,  that  very  Friday 
afternoon,  that  two  of  the  leaders  and  concocters  of  the 
rebellion  were  expected  to  arrive,  disguised,  in  a  few 
hours,  at  one  of  our  ports,  to  escape  to  Europe,  he  in 
structed  our  officers  not  to  arrest  them,  but  let  them  flee 
the  country.  He  did  not  wish  their  blood,  but  their 
associates  thirsted  for  his,  and  a  few  short  hours  after 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  275 

this  message  of  mercy  to  save  their  friends  from  death 
sped  on  the  wings  of  lightning,  with  wicked  hands 
they  slew  him.  No  last  words  of  affection  to  weeping 
wife  and  children  did  they  allow  him.  No  moment's 
space  for  prayer  to  God.  But,  in  order  that  conscious 
ness  might  end  with  the  instant,  the  pistol  was  held 
close  to  the  skull,  that  the  bullet  might  be  buried  in 
his  brain. 

"  And  thus,  though  the  President  is  slain,  the  nation 
lives.  The  statesman,  who  has  so  successfully  conducted 
our  foreign  correspondence,  as  to  save  us  from  threat 
ened  and  endangering  complications  and  difficulties 
abroad,  and  who,  with  the  President,  leaned  ever  to 
mercy's  side,  so  brutally  bowie-knifed  as  he  lay  helpless 
on  his  bed  of  anguish,  is  happily  to  be  spared ;  and 
the  conspiracy  which  intended  a  bloody  harvest  of  six 
patriots'  lives,  reaped,  with  its  murderous  sickle,  but 
one. 

"But  that  one — how  dear  to  all  our  hearts — how  price 
less  in  its  worth,  how  transparent  and  spotless  its  purity 
of  character!  In  the  fiery  trial  to  which  the  nation  has 
been  subjected,  we  have  given  of  the  bravest  and  the 
best  of  the  land.  The  South  is  filled  with  the  graves 
where  sleep  the  patriot  martyrs  of  constitutional  liberty 
till  the  resurrection  morn.  The  vacant  chair  at  the 
table  of  thousands  upon  thousands  tells  of  those,  who, 
inspired  by  the  sublimest  .spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  have 
died  that  the  Kepublic  might  survive.  Golden  and 
living  treasures  have  been  heaped  up  upon  our  country's 
altar.  But,  after  all  these  costly  sacrifices  had  been 
offered,  and  the  end  seemed  almost  at  hand,  a  costlier 
sacrifice  had  to  be  made ;  and  from  the  highest  place  in 
all  the  land  the  victim  came.  Slaughtered  at  the 


276  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

moment  of  victory,  the  blow  was  too  late  to  rob  him  of 
the  grand  place  he  has  won  for  himself  in  history : 

"  '  We  know  him  now.     All  narrow  jealousies 
Are  silent.     And  we  see  him  as  he  moved, 
How  modest,  kindly,  all  compassionate,  wise, 
With  what  sublime  repression  of  himself, 
And  in  what  limits  and  how  tenderly. 
Whose  glory  was  redressing  human  wrongs, 
Not  making  his  high  place  the  lawless  perch 
Of  winged  ambition,  nor  a  vantage  ground 
Of  pleasure.     But,  through  all  this  tract  of  years, 
Wearing  the  white  flower  of  a  blameless  life.' 

"Murdered,  coffined,  buried,  he  will  live  with  those  few 
immortal  names  which  were  not  born  to  die ;  live,  as  the 
Father  of  the  Faithful  in  the  times  that  tried  men's 
souls ;  live  in  the  grateful  hearts  of  the  dark-browed  race 
he  lifted  from  under  the  heel  of  the  oppressor  to  the 
dignity  of  freedom  and  of  manhood;  live  in  every 
bereaved  circle  which  has  given  father,  husband,  son  or 
friend  to  die,  as  he  did,  for  his  country ;  live,  with  the 
glorious  company  of  martyrs  to  liberty,  justice  and 
humanity,  that  trio  of  heaven-born  principles ;  live  in 
the  love  of  all  beneath  the  circuit  of  the  sun,  who  loathe 
tyranny,  slavery,  and  wrong.  And,  leaving  behind  him 
a  record  that  shows  how  honesty  and  principle  lifted 
him,  self-made  as  he  was,  from  the  humblest  ranks  of 
the  people  to  the  noblest  station  on  the  globe,  and  a 
name  that  shall  brighten  under  the  eye  of  posterity  as 
the  ages  roll  by, 

14  *  From  the  top  of  fame's  ladder  he  stepped  to  the  sky.'  " 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  277 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

ME.  LINCOLN'S  MESSAGE  BY  MR.  COLFAX  TO  THE  MINERS 
OF  THE  WEST — THE  OVERLAND  JOURNEY — VISIT  AT 
SALT  LAKE  CITY — PLAIN  TALKING  WITH  BRIGHAM 

YOUNG — SPEECH  AT  SALT  LAKE   CITY. 

THE  terribly  sad  event  of  President  Lincoln's  assas 
sination  caused  Mr.  Colfax  to  commit  to  writing  the 
message  with  which  he  had  been  intrusted  by  Mr.  Lin 
coln  for  the  miners  of  the  "West.  The  following  was  the 
message : 

"  I  have,"  said  he,  "  very  large  ideas  of  the  mineral 
wealth  of  our  nation.  I  believe  it  practically  inex 
haustible.  It  abounds  all  over  the  Western  country  from 
the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Pacific,  and  its  development 
has  scarcely  commenced.  During  the  war,  when  wo  were 
adding  a  couple  of  millions  of  dollars  every  day  to  our 
national  debt,  I  did  not  care  about  encouraging  the  in 
crease  in  the  volumes  of  our  precious  metals.  We  had 
the  country  to  save  first.  But  now  that  the  rebellion 
is  overthrown,  and  we  know  pretty  nearly  the  amount 
of  our  national  debt,  the  more  gold  and  silver  we  mine, 
makes  the  payment  of  that  debt  so  much  the  easier. 
Now,"  said  he,  speaking  with  much  emphasis,  "I  am 
going  to  encourage  that  in  every  possible  way.  We 
shall  have  hundreds  of  thousands  of  disbanded  soldiers, 
and  many  have  feared  that  their  return  home  in  such 
great  numbers  might  paralyze  industry  by  furnishing 
suddenly  a  greater  supply  of  labor  than  there  will  be 
demand  for.  I  am  going  to  try  to  attract  them  to  the 
hidden  wealth  of  our  mountain  ranges  where  there  is 
room  enough  for  all.  Immigration,  which  even  the  war 
has  not  stopped,  will  land  upon  our  shores  hundreds  of 
thousands  more  per  year  from  over-crowded  Europe.  I 


2y  8  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

intend  to  point  them  to  the  gold  and  silver  that  waits 
for  them  in  the  West.  Tell  the  miners,  from  me,  that  I 
shall  promote  their  interests  to  the  utmost  of  my  ability, 
because  their  prosperity  is  the  prosperity  of  the  nation  ; 
and,"  said  he,  his  eye  kindling  with  enthusiasm,  "we 
shall  prove  in  a  very  few  years  that  we  are  indeed  the 

TREASURY   OF   THE  WORLD." 

Faithfully  was  the  message  repeated  to  the  miners  in 
the  cities  and  mountains  of  Colorado,  Nevada  and  Cali 
fornia  with  lips  that  were  eloquent  of  the  martyred 
President,  of  the  heroism  of  the  army  and  navy,  and  of 
the  future  of  the  country.  After  four  months  of  travel, 
having  passed  across  the  continent  and  through  Cali 
fornia,  Oregon  and  Washington  territory,  and  having 
also  visited  the  Queen's  dominions,  where  they  come 
down  to  the  Pacific  upon  the  extreme  northwest  of  our 
territory,  Mr.  Colfax  returned  home  by  way  of  Panama 
and  New  York.  The  invitation  to  make  this  journey  to 
the  far  West  had  been  made  as  a  public  recognition  of 
his  services  in  securing  the  Overland  Mail  and  Tele 
graph.  Many  personal  friends  in  the  territories  of  the 
Eocky  Mountains  and  the  States  of  the  Pacific  hailed  it 
with  delight.  President  Lincoln's  interest  in  it  pointed 
public  attention  to  it.  The  companions  of  Mr.  Colfax 
were  Mr.  Bowles,  of  the  Springfield  Republican,  Massa 
chusetts;  Mr.  Eichardson,  correspondent  of  the  New 
York  Tribune'  and  Lt.-Governor  Bross,  of  the  Chicago 
Tribune.  The  companionship  of  these  journalists,  the 
public  position  of  Mr.  Colfax,  his  reputation  and  per 
sonal  popularity,  and  the  fact  that  he  was  on  a  tour  of 
exploration  as  well  as  of  pleasure,  made  the  journey  one 
that  was  almost  like  a  public  mission.  It  was  a  con 
tinual  ovation.  The  speeches  that  Mr.  Colfax  made 


Life  of  Schuyier  Coif  ax.  279 

would  more  than  fill  a  volume.  "While  they  were  so  nu 
merous,  his  critical  editorial  comrades  have  borne  ample 
testimony  that  they  were  ever  fresh,  able,  and  varied,  and 
heard  with  delight  and  enthusiasm.  Mr.  Bowles,  in  his 
book,  "  Across  the  Continent,''  has  given  a  pleasing  nar 
rative  of  the  incidents  of  the  trip  and  a  panorama  of  the 
way.  Many  thousands  of  delighted  hearers  in  cities  and 
villages,  East  and  West,  have  listened  to  the  lecture  of 
Mr.  Colfax  on  the  same  theme ;  a  lecture  repeated  many 
times  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  though  not  so 
many  by  some  hundreds  as  there  were  requests  for  its 
delivery. 

In  the  beginning  of  his  Congressional  career,  Mr. 
Colfax  had  taken  as  decided  a  stand  against  the  polyg 
amy  of  Utah  as  he  had  against  the  introduction  of 
slavery  into  Kansas.  During  his  Congressional  life,  as 
occasion  had  demanded,  he  had  reiterated  his  views.  In 
1865,  when  a  visitor  at  Salt  Lake  City,  returning  the 
call  made  by  Brigham  Young  upon  himself  and  party, 
in  the  chief  Mormon's  own  home,  Mr.  Colfax  was  as 
clear  and  distinct  and  outspoken  in  his  opposition  to 
polygamy  as  upon  the  stump  in  his  own  district  or  upon 
the  floor  of  Congress.  When  Brigham  Young,  after 
arguing  in  behalf  of  their  system  of  plurality  of  wives, 
stating  that  the  Mormons  had  adopted  it  in  consequence 
of  a  revelation  from  heaven,  and  not  because  of  their 
desire  for  it,  asked  Mr.  Colfax  how  he  expected  it  would 
be  done  away ;  Mr.  Colfax  promptly  replied :  We  ex 
pect  you  to  have  a  new  revelation  prohibiting  it.  Or 
there  may  be  another  solution,  said  Mr.  Colfax.  You 
may  do  away  with  it  by  your  own  voluntary  action, 
legally,  peacefully,  just  as  Missouri  and  Maryland 
abolished  slavery. 


28o  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

The  following  extracts  from  a  speech  by  Mr.  Colfax 
in  Salt  Lake  City,  show  with  what  wisdom,  as  a  states 
man,  and  with  what  frankness  and  fairness  as  a  man  he 
dealt  with  the  people.  He  exhibits  to  them  the  advan 
tages  which  a  paternal  Government  will  yield  them,  to 
which  they  are  also  entitled  as  rights ;  but  also  shows 
them  the  duties  they  are  bound  to  yield  to  the  Govern 
ment,  and  upon  the  performance  of  which  their  rights 
are  contingent : 

"It  happened  to  be  my  fortune  in  Congress  to  do  a 
little  towards  increasing  the  postal  facilities  in  the  West, 
not  so  much  as  I  desired,  but  as  much  as  I  could  obtain 
from  Congress.  And  when  it  was  proposed,  to  the 
astonishment  of  my  fellow-members,  that  there  should 
be  a  daily  mail  run  across  these  pathless  plains  and 
mighty  mountains,  through  the  wilderness  of  the  West  to 
the  Pacific,  with  the  pathway  lined  with  our  enemies, 
the  savages  of  the  forest,  and  where  the  luxuries  and 
even  the  necessaries  of  life  in  some  parts  of  the  route 
are  unknown,  the  project  was  not  considered  possible ; 
and  then,  when  in  my  position  as  Chairman  of  the  Post 
Office  Committee,  I  proposed  that  we  should  vote  a  mil 
lion  of  dollars  a-year  to  put  that  mail  across  the  con 
tinent,  members  came  to  me  and  said :  '  You  will  ruin 
yourself.'  They  thought  it  was  monstrous,  an  unjust 
and  extravagant  expenditure.  Though  I  knew  little  of 
the  West  then,  compared  to  what  I  have  learned  in  the 
few  weeks  of  this  trip,  I  said  to  them:  'The  people 
along  the  line  of  that  route  have  a  right  to  demand 
it  at  your  hands,  and  in  their  behalf  I  demand  it.' 
(Cheers.)  Finally,  the  bill  was  coaxed  through,  and 
you  have  a  daily  mail  winning  through  here  with  almost 


Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax.  281 

• 

the  regularity  of  clock-work.  You  had  a  right  to  de 
mand  that.  You  had  a  right  to  demand,  as  the  Eastern 
portion  of  this  Republic  had  telegraphic  communication 
speeding  the  messages  of  life  and  death,  of  pleasure  and 
of  traffic,  that  the  same  way  for  you  should  be  opened 
up  by  that  frail  wire,  the  conductor  of  Jove's  thunder 
bolts,  tamed  down  for  the  use  of  man.  Therefore,  it  fell 
to  my  fortune  to  demand  it  also  for  you.  I  would  not 
allude  to  these  things,  but  the  chairman  of  your  commit 
tee  alluded  to  them  yesterday  morning,  as  one  reason, 
though  differing,  as  I  know  you  do,  from  me  in  many 
respects,  why  you  had  seen  fit  to  extend  this  compliment. 
But,  to  resume,  I  insisted  that  there  should  be  this  wire 
across  this  continent.  No  one  was  willing  to  undertake 
the  matter  unless  the  Government  aided.  I  proposed 
that  we  should  pay  a  subsidy.  It  was  easy  to  pass  it  in 
the  Senate,  but  in  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  it  was 
more  difficult,  as  there  are  more  conflicting  interests 
and  closer  division  of  parties  hostile  to  each  other. 
"When  I  proposed  that  we  should  pay  forty  thousand  dol 
lars  a  year,  men  were  amazed  at  it ;  however,  we  finally 
carried  that  through,  and  not  a  man  in  all  the  land  regrets 
it  to-day.  There  was  another  great  interest  you  had  a 
right  to  demand.  Instead  of  the  slow,  toilsome  and  ex 
pensive  manner  in  which  you  freight  your  goods  and 
hardware  to  this  distant  territory,  you  should  have  a 
speedy  transit  between  the  Missouri  valley  and  this 
intra-montane  basin  in  which  you  live.  Instead  of  pay 
ing  two  or  three  prices — sometimes  overrunning  the 
cost  of  the  article — you  should  have  a  railroad  commu 
nication,  and  California  demanded  this.  (Cheers.)  I 
said,  as  did  many  others  in  Congress,  '  This  is  a  great 
national  enterprise;  we  must  bind  the  Atlantic  and 


282  Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax. 

• 
Pacific  States  together  by  bands  of  iron ;  we  must  send 

the  iron-horse  through  all  these  valleys  and  mountains 
of  the  interior,  and  when  thus  interlaced  together  we 
shall  be  a  more  compact  and  homogeneous  Republic.' 
And  the  Pacific  Railroad  Bill  passed.  This  great  work 
of  uniting  three  thousand  miles,  from  shore  to  shore,  is 
to  be  consummated,  and  we  hail  the  day  of  peace,  be 
cause  with  peace  we  can  do  many  things  as  a  nation 
that  we  cannot  do  in  war.  This  railroad  is  to  be  built, 
the  company  is  to  build  it ;  if  they  do  not  the  Govern 
ment  will.  It  shall  be  put  through  soon,  not  toilsomely, 
slowly  as  a  far-distant  event,  but  as  an  event  of  the  de 
cade  in  which  we  live.  (Cheers.) 

"  All  these  are  matters  that  you  have  a  right  to  demand 
of  the  national  Congress.  (A  voice,  'and  what  of  the 
State?')  A  gentleman  suggests  about  the  State.  I  will 
answer  very  frankly  about  the  State.  The  Constitution 
says :  '  Congress  may  admit  new  States,'  it  does  not  say 
Congress  SHALL  admit  them,  and  Congress  does  as  it 
pleases ;  and  the  tie  vote  of  the  Speaker  is  very  rarely 
called  for  or  needed  to  adopt  or  reject.  I  might  speak 
more  fully  on  this  point,  but  I  do  not  come  here  to  dis 
cuss  controverted  matters.  I  will  not  speak  to  you  with 
a  forked  or  double  tongue  to-night,  for  the  life  of  a 
public  man  is  such  that  it  is  open  in  all  its  pages  before 
the  world.  You  know  whether  I  have  sought  to  advance 
your  interests.  If  I  have  not  in  the  past,  I  could  not 
convince  you  by  profession  to-night.  I  have  told  you 
what  you  have  a  right  to  demand  of  your  Government, 
and  all  the  people  of  this  broad  land  have  precisely  the 
same  rights  as  you.  And  now,  what  has  the  Govern 
ment  a  right  to  demand  of  you  ?  It  is  not  that  which 
Napoleon  exacts  from  his  officers  in  France — which  is 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  283 

'  allegiance  to  the  Constitution  arid  fidelity  to  the  Em 
peror.'  Thank  God  we  have  no  Emperor  nor  despot  in 
this  country,  throned  or  unthroned.  (Cheers.)  Here, 
every  man  has  the  right,  himself,  to  exercise  his  elective 
suffrage  as  he  sees  fit,  none  molesting  him  or  making 
him  afraid.  And  the  duty  of  every^  American  citizen 
is  condensed  in  a  single  sentence,  as  I  said  to  your  com 
mittee  yesterday — not  in  allegiance  to  an  Emperor,  but 
allegiance  to  .the  Constitution,  obedience  to  the  laws,  and 
devotion  to  the  Union.  (Cheers.)  When  you  live  up  to 
that  standard  you  have  the  right  to  demand  protection ; 
and  were  you  three  times  three  thousand  miles  from  the 
national  Capital,  wherever  the  starry  banner  of  the 
Kepublic  waves  and  a  man  stands  under  it,  if  his  rights 
of  life,  liberty  and  property  are  assailed,  and  he  has 
rendered  this  allegiance  to  his  country,  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  Government  to  reach  out  its  arm,  if  it  take  a  score 
of  regiments,  to  protect  and  uphold  him  in  his  rights." 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

RETURN  OP  MR.  COLFAX — MANY  ALARMED  AT  INDICA 
TIONS  OF  CHANGE  IN  PRESIDENT  JOHNSON — MR.  COL- 
FAX  IN  THE  QUIET  OF  HIS  HOME  DETERMINES  HKJ 
DUTY — SERENADE  SPEECH  AT  WASHINGTON  —  THB 
PRESIDENT  NOT  PLEASED — MR.  COLFAX  RE-ELECTED 
SPEAKER — INAUGURAL — PRESIDES  AT  FINAL  ANNI 
VERSARY  OF  UNITED  STATES  CHRISTIAN  COMMISSION. 

WHEN  Mr.  Colfax  set  out  upon  his  overland  journey 
he  thought  it  very  probable  that  a  special  session  of  the 


284  Life  of  Sthuyler  Coif  ax. 

Thirty-ninth  Congress  might  be  called  on  account  of  the 
emergencies  arising  from  reconstruction.  He  therefore 
kept  himself  always  within  reach  of  the  telegraph,  so 
that  if  there  was  need  he  could  speedily  be  at  the  post 
of  duty.  No  extra  session  of  Congress,  however,  was 
called.  When  he  returned  home  he  found  that  Presi 
dent  Johnson  was  losing  the  confidence  of  many  in  the 
party  which  had  elected  him.  Mr.  Colfax  was  impor 
tuned  to  come  to  Washington;  but  he  preferred,  in 
the  quiet  of  his  own  home,  to  consider  the  state  of  the 
country,  and  determine  upon  that  course  which  in  his 
judgment  would  be  right.  Shortly  before  the  organi 
zation  of  Congress  he  went  to  Washington.  A  large 
crowd  of  friends  repaired  to  his  quarters  and  compli 
mented  him  with  a  serenade.  In  response  to  earnest 
calls  he  addressed  them  upon  the  principles  of  recon 
struction,  insisting  that,  in  addition  to  Mr.  Johnson's 
requirements  from  the  South,  Congress  should,  by  legis 
lation,  demand  additional  and  irreversible  guarantees, 
both  for  the  protection  of  the  freedmen  and  the  preser 
vation  of  the  Union  from  another  rebellion.  This  was 
the  first  speech  of  any  Congressman  taking  issue  with 
the  President's  "  policy,"  and  Mr.  Johnson  has  always 
denounced  it  as  the  initiation  of  the  Congressional  policy 
which  antagonized  his,  but  which  the  people  have  so 
signally  indorsed  and  approved. 

The  next  day  Mr.  Colfax  called  upon  President  John 
son  ;  the  President  was  not  at  all  pleased  with  the  speech, 
and  was  sorry  that  Mr.  Colfax  had  not  consulted  with 
him  before  speaking  to  the  assembling  Congress  and  the 
country  upon  the  important  subject  of  reconstruction. 
Mr.  Colfax's  reply,  in  substance,  was,  that  surely  the  Pres 
ident  could  have  no  respect  for  him,  if  he  did  not  utter 
the  honest  convictions  of  his  heart. 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  285 

The  Thirty-ninth  Congress  was  organized  by  the  re 
election  of  Mr.  Colfax  as  Speaker;  he  receiving  one 
hundred  and  thirty-nine  votes,  and  Mr.  Brooks,  of  New 
York,  thirty-six. 

The  Speaker  delivered  the  following  address : 

''GENTLEMEN  OP  THE  HOUSE  OF  KEPRESBNTATIVES : 
The  re-assembling  of  Congress,  marking,  as  it  does,  the 
procession  of  our  national  history,  is  always  regarded 
with  interest  by  the  people  for  whom  it  is  to  legislate, 
but  it  is  not  unsafe  to  say  that  millions  more  than  ever 
before,  North,  South,  East  and  West,  are  looking  to  the 
Congress  which  opens  its  first  session  to-day,  with  an 
earnestness  and  solicitude  unequalled  on  similar  occa 
sions  in  the  past.  The  Thirty-eighth  Congress  closed 
its  constitutional  existence  with  the  storm-cloud  of  war 
still  over  us,  and  after  a  nine  months'  absence  Congress 
resumes  its  legislative  authority  in  these  council  halls, 
rejoicing  that  from  shore  to  shore  in  our  land  there  is 
peace. 

"  Its  duties  are  as  obvious  as  the  sun's  pathway  in  the 
heavens.  Kepresentiug  in  its  two  branches  the  States 
and  the  People,  its  first  and  highest  obligation  is  to 
guarantee  to  every  State  a  republican  form  of  govern 
ment.  The  rebellion  having  overthrown  the  constitu 
tional  State  governments  in  many  States,  it  is  your 
duty  to  mature  and  enact  legislation  which,  with  the 
concurrence  of  such  a  basis  of  enduring  justice  as  will 
guarantee  all  necessary  safeguards  to  the  people,  will 
afford  what  our  Magna  Charta,  the  Declaration  of  In 
dependence,  proclaims  the  chief  object  of  government, 
protection  to  all  men  in  their  alienable  rights.  (Ap 
plause.)  The  world  should  witness  in  this  great  work 


286  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

tire  most  inflexible  fidelity,  the  most  earnest  devotion  to 
the  principles  of  liberty  and  humanity,  the  truest  patriot 
ism,  and  the  wisest  statesmanship.  Men,  by  the  hun 
dreds  of  thousands,  have  died  that  the  Republic  might 
live.  The  emblem  of  mourning  darkened  the  White 
House  and  the  cabin  alike,  but  the  fires  of  civil  war 
have  melted  every  fetter  in  the  land,  and  proved  the 
funeral  pyre  of  slavery. 

"  It  is  for  you,  Representatives,  to  do  your  work  as  faith 
fully  and  as  well  as  did  the  fearless  saviours  of  the  Union 
in  their  more  dangerous  arenas  of  duty.  Then  we  may 
hope  to  see  the  vacant  and  once  abandoned  seats  around 
us  gradually  filling  up,  until  this  hall  shall  contain  Rep 
resentatives  from  every  State  arid  district,  their  hearts 
devoted  to  the  Union  for  which  they  are  to  legislate ; 
jealous  of  its  honor,  proud  of  its  glory,  watchful  of  its 
rights  and  hostile  to  its  enemies.  The  stars  on  our 
banners  that  paled  when  the  States  they  represented 
arrayed  themselves  in  arms  against  the  nation,  will 
then  shine  with  a  more  brilliant  light  of  loyalty  than 
ever  before.  (Applause.) 

"Invoking  the  guidance  of  Him  who  holds  the  des 
tiny  of  nations  in  the  hollow  of  His  hand,  I  enter  again 
upon  the  duties  of  this  trying  position  with  a  heart  filled 
with  gratitude  for  the  unusually  flattering  manner  in 
which  it  has  been  bestowed,  and  cheered  by  the  hope 
that  it  betokens  your  cordial  support  and  assistance  in 
all  its  grave  responsibilities.  J.  am  now  ready  to  take 
the  oath  of  office  prescribed  by  law." 

The  soldiers  never  had  a  better  friend  than  Mr.  Colfax. 
The  sympathies  of  his  heart,  his  means,  and  his  labors, 
were  given  to  them  without  stint.  Pleading  the  cause 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  287 

of  the  Christian  and  Sanitary  Commissions,  he  had  been 
their  frequent  and  eloquent  advocate  before  the  public. 

Upon  the  llth  of  February,  1866,  the  United  States 
Christian  Commission  held  its  final  anniversary  at 
Washington,  in  ,the  Hall  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives.  Mr.  Colfax  was  called  to  preside.  Upon  taking 
the  chair,  he  made  the  following  brief  address : 

"  LADIES  AND  G-ENTLEMEN  :  The  fearful  trial  to  which 
our  Republic  was  subjected  for  the  preservation  of  its 
existence  is  over.  The  loved  and  lost,  who  died  that 
the  nation  might  live,  sleep  in  their  bloody  shrouds  in 
village  churchyards,  on  innumerable  battle-fields,  near 
prison  camps,  alas,  too,  in  unmarked  graves,  but  all 
enshrined  with  the  sainted  dead  of  the  revolution  in 
millions  of  hearts  forevermore.  The  yet  vacant  chair 
at  many  a  lonely  hearthstone  tells  the  silent  story  of 
sacrifices  such  as  the  world  has  never  rivalled  before. 
But  the  gates  of  our  temple  of  Janus  are  closed.  From 
the  battle-line,  which  swept  across  our  country  thou 
sands  of  miles  from  Gettysburg  to  the  boundaries  of  the 
Mexican  Republic,  the  bannered  hosts  have  returned  to 
their  waiting  homes,  volunteers  transformed  by  the  shock 
of  arms  into  veterans,  and  hailed  as  the  saviours  of  the 
Union.  The  sword  is  exchanged  for  the  ploughshare, 
and  the  great  Rebellion,  organized  on  broken  oaths,  and 
culminating  in  the  murder  of  the  nation's  chief,  with  the 
great  Uprising  which  so  patriotically  confronted  it,  and 
the  great  Victory,  which  crushed  it,  have  passed  into  his 
tory,  which  Cicero  tells  us  is  '  the  evidence  of  ages,  the 
light  of  memory,  and  the  school  of  life  !' 

"  It  is  under  these  auspicious  circumstances  that  this 
Organization,  inspired  from  that  Throne  whence  flow  all 
good  impulses,  which,  like  a  handmaiden  of  mercy,  went 
forth  with  our  armies  to  -nccor  and  to  save,  returns  to- 


283  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

night  to  this  Representative-hall  to  render  a  final  account 
of  its  stewardship.  Of  its  thousands  of  active  and  wil 
ling  co-laborers,  and  its  millions  of  expenditure,  you  will 
hear  from  abler  tongues  than  mine.  From  all  quarters 
of  the  nation,  from  church-altar,  and  family  circle, 
from  merchants  and  manufacturers,  from  mechanics  and 
miners,  from  the  tillers  of  the  earth  and  the  sailors  on 
the  sea,  from  crowded  cities  and  humble  cabins,  from 
the  munificent  donations  of  the  wealthy  to  the  widows7 
mite,  came  the  material  aid,  which  poured  its  mighty 
volume  into  the  coffers  of  the  Christian  Commission. 
And  its  agents,  thus  endowed  with  the  unstinted  gifts  of 
patriotic  benevolence,  and  clad  in  the  armor  of  a  nation's 
sympathy,  went  forth  to  win  the  glorious  victories  they 
so  gloriously  achieved — victories  over  sufferings,  vic 
tories  over  disease,  victories  over  death  itself,  from  whose 
icy  grasp  they  rescued  so  many  thousands  by  their  more 
than  Samaritan  ministrations.  To  the  battle-field  they 
came,  to  snatch  our  brave  defenders  from  under  the  guns 
of  the  enemy,  where  they  had  fallen.  To  the  hospital 
they  came,  to  minister  in  the  place  of  the  beloved  wife 
and  mother,  so  far  away,  and  to  pour  oil,  if  possible,  into 
the  expiring  lamp  of  life.  To  the  death-bed  of  the  de 
parting  hero  they  came,  to  smooth  his  pathway  to  the 
tomb  and  to  point  him  to  the  better  land,  where  he 
should  live  a  life  that  would  never  die. 

"  Besting  from  their  labors  of  love,  now  that  the  vic 
torious  ensign  of  the  Eepublic  waves  over  the  entire 
land,  and  our  Constitution  has  become  the  New  Testa 
ment  of  our  freedom,  they  rejoice  with  all  who  rejoice 
over  a  country  saved  for  its  brilliant  destiny  hereafter,  in 
that  noble  sentiment,  deeper,  profounder  in  its  significance 
to-day  than  when  first  uttered  in  this  Capitol,  '  Liberty 
and  Union,  now  and  forever,  one  and  inseparable  P  " 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax.  289 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

BREACH  BETWEEN  THE  PRESIDENT  AND  CONGRESS — THE 
CIVIL  RIGHTS  BILL  PASSED  OVER  THE  PRESIDENT'S 
VETO — SERENADE  SPEECH  OF  MR.  COLFAX  ON  THAT 
OCCASION. 

UPON  the  reading  of  the  message  of  the  President  at 
the  opening  of  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress,  it  was  evident 
beyond  all  peradventure  that  the  President  was  opposed 
in  the  reconstruction  of  the  Government  to  the  leaders 
of  the  Eepublican  party,  and  at  variance  with  his  own 
previously  expressed  principles.  The  breach  between 
the  President  and  Congress  widened  continually.  The 
President  removing  the  provisional  Governor  of  Ala 
bama,  and  handing  the  State  government  over  to  officers 
elected  by  the  people,  virtually  denied  the  authority  of 
Congress  over  the  reconstruction  of  the  rebel  States. 
The  Freedmen's  Bureau  Bill,  which  had  been  passed  by 
a  large  majority  in  Congress,  was  vetoed  by  him.  The 
veto  message  gave  evidence  that  the  President  was 
willing  that  those  who,  through  four  years  of  dreadful 
war,  had  sought  to  destroy  the  country,  should  have  an 
equal  voice  with  loyal  men  in  determining  the  terms  of 
its  reconstruction.  The  President  also  vetoed  the  Civil 
Rights  Bill.  This  bill  had  been  prepared  with  great 
care.  It  seemed  to  the  Republican  party  to  be  essential 
for  the  preservation  of  the  results  gained  by  the  war. 
A  majority  of  more  than  the  requisite  two-thirds  passed 
this  bill  over  the  President's  veto,  and  placed  it  among 
the  statutes  of  the  land.  There  was  great  rejoicing 


290  Life  of  Schuylcr  Coif  ax. 

among  the  Republicans  at  this  result.  The  citizens  of 
Indiana,  in  honor  of  the  event,  serenaded  Mr.  Colfax, 
who,  in  "acknowledging  the  compliment,  made  the  fol 
lowing  address  to  them: 

SERENADE  SPEECH. 

"I  have  no  doubt  that  you,  like  myself,  rejoice  with 
exceeding  great  joy,  and  are  prouder  to-day  of  being 
citizens  of  this  great  country  than  ever  before.  There 
was  a  time  in  this  land  of  ours  when  slavery  was  regarded 
as  the  corner-stone  of  American  institutions.  Thank 
God,  that  time  has  passed,  and  we  build  henceforth  on 
a  foundation  of  liberty.  To-day,  under  the  legislation  of 
the  American  Congress,  in  this  Republic,  washed  by  the 
waters  of  the  two  great  oceans  of  the  globe,  there  is 
no  person,  rich  or  poor,  high  or  humble,  learned  or 
unlearned,  who  does  not  live  in  security  under  the 
protection  of  equal  laws.  I  am  prouder  to-day,  also,  of 
the  great  Union  organization  of  which  I  have  been  a 
member  than  ever  before.  Its  history  is  nobly  written 
in  the  history  of  our  country.  Administrations,  and 
Congresses,  and  parties  may  pass  away,  but  the  record 
which  this  party  has  made  will  shine  with  more  bril 
liancy  on  our  country's  pages  than  any  others  in  the 
annals  of  our  history.  When  the  great  rebellion  broke 
out,  and  when  our  ship  of  state  rocked  in  a  fearful  storm, 
and  was  threatened  by  a  terrible  mutiny,  the  Union 
organization  stood  unflinchingly  by  our  noble  President, 
the  martyred  Lincoln,  in  his  determination  to  crush  the 
conspiracy  and  preserve  the  Government  intact;  and 
when  it  prophesied  to  us,  that  the  rebellion  could  not 
be  subjugated,  the  Union-loving  people  of  the  coun 
try,  forming  into  a  mighty  phalanx,  determined  that  it 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  29 1 

should  be.  The  patriotic  enactments  of  this  great  party 
are  imperishable.  In  1862  the  Capital  was  disgraced  by 
slavery;  but  they  determined  that  hencefortlrit  should 
be  free,  and  with  unwavering  fidelity  to  principle  they 
placed  upon  the  statute-book  that  law  which  never  can 
be  and  never  shall  be  repealed,  that  in  this  Capital  there 
should  be  no  slave.  In  1863  our  noble  and  true- 
hearted  President  issued  his  Proclamation  of  Emancipa 
tion,  striking  with  the  sword  of  the  Union  that  powerful 
element  of  rebel  strength,  and  the  Union  party  stood 
by  him,  determined  to  give  that  proclamation  vitality, 
carrying  it  successfully  in  the  great  campaign  of  1864. 
When  the  Constitutional  amendment  was  proposed  in 
Congress  banishing  slavery,  as  an  unclean  thing,  forever 
from  the  country,  and  declaring  that  henceforth  and  for 
ever  it  should  be  the  home  of  the  free,  that  noble  organiza 
tion  again  united  and  rallied  to  its  support,  and  placed 
that  amendment  on  the  statute-book.  Again,  in  this  year 
of  1866,  in  the  Senate  chamber  and  in  the  Representa 
tive-hall,  they  have  placed  by  overwhelming  majorities 
the  Civil  Eights  Bill  on  your  statute-book,  which  de 
clares  that  every  one  born  on  American  soil,  and  all 
who  come  here  from  abroad,  and  are  naturalized  in  our 
courts,  shall  have  a  birthright  as  an  American  citizen. 
That  law,  misrepresented  as  it  has  been  by  its  opponents 
in  Congress,  will  never  be  repealed;  and  in  the  years 
that  are  to  come  it  will  be  the  proudest  recollection  and 
the  crowning  honor  of  those  men,  who  stood  up  in  the 
national  councils,  that  they  gave  to  such  truly  American 
legislation  their  cordial  support.  For  why  should  there 
be  objections  to  a  law  like  that  ? 

"  Every  one  born  on  the  soil  of  the  Republic  owes  to 
it  allegiance  j  and  is  it  not  then  the  reciprocal  duty  of  the 


292  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

Eepublic  to  give  to  him  its  protection?  Henceforth, 
whenever  in  this  land  a  person  shall  be  oppressed  or 
outraged,  or  his  rights  withheld;  whenever  'tyranny 
may  shake  his  sceptre  over  him,'  he  has  but  to  turn  to 
the  national  flag  and  to  the  national  Government  for  that 
protection  which  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has 
ordained  is  his  right.  We  are  sometimes  asked — and  I 
know  with  what  solicitude  the  American  people  regard 
it — why  the  work  of  reconstruction  has  been  delayed. 
I  do  not  think  it  has  been  unreasonably  delayed.  The 
President  of  the  United  States,  in  the  eight  months 
between  the  collapse  of  the  rebellion  and  the  opening  of 
Congress,  was  engaged  in  the  work  of  that  policy,  which 
seemed  to  him  the  most  fitting,  and  Congress  has  been 
engaged  for  the  past  four  months  in  collecting  testimony, 
in  comparing  opinions,  and  in  proposing  action  to  lay 
the  foundation  of  a  reconstruction,  which  shall  make  our 
Union  eternal  as  the  ages.  But  they  have  already  in 
past  years  initiated  a  policy  of  reconstruction.  In  1862 
they  placed  upon  the  statute-book  the  first  law  indi 
cating  their  policy  of  reconstruction,  the  law  known  as 
the  test  oath,  declaring  that  no  man  should  be  eligible 
to  office,  who  could  not  swear  that  he  had  not  volunta 
rily  given  aid  and  comfort  to  bloody  conspiracy  and 
treason.  That  law  was  well  understood  by  the  Ameri 
can  people  South  as  well  as  North.  No  one  expected 
that  then,  when  the  rebellion  had  its  armies  in  the  field 
against  the  Union,  any  one  would  come  knocking  at  the 
door  of  Congress,  claiming  to  represent  the  States  of 
Alabama,  Georgia,  Mississippi,  South  or  North  Carolina, 
Florida  or  Texas.  But  it  was  believed  when  the  rebel 
lion  should  end,  the  men  who  had  insultingly  turned 
their  backs  on  Congress  and  spurned  their  seats,  who  • 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  293 

had  killed  the  Union  defenders  and  sought  to  capture 
this  Capital,  would,  with  the  assurance  of  old  times,  de 
mand  that  they  should  govern  the  country  which  they 
had  ineffectually  attempted  to  ruin.  That  test  oath  was 
placed  there,  as  the  flaming  sword  at  the  garden  of  Eden, 
to  warn  such  men  that  until  there  were  fruits  meet  for 
repentance,  or  bonds  for  future  good  behavior,  there  was 
no  place  in  these  precincts  for  them.  Again,  the  policy 
of  reconstruction  was  indicated  by  Congress  in  the  winter 
of  1864,  when  it  passed  nearly  unanimously,  and  with 
out  the  yeas  and  nays,  a  joint  resolution  that  the  Vice- 
President,  in  counting  the  Presidential  votes,  should 
not  count  the  electoral  votes  of  any  State  that  had  been 
engaged  in  the  rebellion.  That  was  intended  to  proclaim 
that  until  Congress  removed  their  disqualifications  by 
laws  restoring  them  to  their  rights,  they  should  stand 
back.  Congress  has,  therefore,  by  these  two  striking 
enactments,  indicated  its  policy  of  reconstruction.  But 
the  Constitution  shows,  in  still  plainer  language,  where 
the  responsibility  of  reconstruction  rests.  It  has  declared 
that  every  State  shall  be  guaranteed  a  republican  form 
of  government ;  and  in  a  subsequent  section,  it  declares 
that  Congress  shall  have  power  to  make  all  laws  neces 
sary  and  proper  to  carry  into  execution  all  the  powers 
vested  in  it,  or  in  any  department  or  officer  of  the  Gov 
ernment.  This  was  intended  to  declare  that  Congress  is 
the  only  law-making  power  of  this  land ;  and  by  the 
Constitution,  to  Congress  and  Congress  alone,  all  must 
look  for  legal  reconstruction.  The  President  of  the 
United  States,  in  his  proclamation  last  May,  appointing 
provisional  Governors,  declared  that  the  States  which 
had  been  in  rebellion  were  without  civil  government. 

That  was  a  fact  as  apparent  as  the  stars  when  they  shine 
18 


294  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

in  the  heavens.  My  regret  is,  for  I  must  speak  frankly, 
that  Congress  was  not  at  that  time  called  together.  I 
believe  it  would  have  hastened  the  work  of  reconstruc 
tion.  I  believe  that  Congress,  and  the  President,  by  his 
approval  of  their  legislation,  would  have  united  last 
summer  on  a  policy  of  reconstruction  which  would  have 
been  acceptable  to  both  branches  of  the  Government, 
and  in  which  the  South,  seeing  this  concurrent  action, 
would  have  acquiesced.  The  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  declares  that  the  President,  on  extraordinary  oc 
casions,  may  convene  Congress.  It  has  seemed  to  me 
that  last  April  was  an  extraordinary  occasion.  The 
President  had  been  murdered  by  a  rebel  conspirator,  and 
the  Vice- President  had  assumed  the  Presidential  func 
tions  ;  the  rebellion  had  seen  its  flag  trampled  in  the  dust 
and  its  armies  surrendered.  It  has  seemed  to  me  that,  if 
there  ever  was  an  '  extraordinary  occasion/  this  was  one. 
But  the  President — and  I  recognize  his  full  Constitutional 
authority  to  decide  the  question — deemed  that  it  was  not 
expedient  to  call  Congress  together,  and  went  on  him 
self  with  the  work  of  reconstruction.  I  believe  that  he 
entered  upon  and  proceeded  with  that  work  at  the 
outset,  intending  it  as  an  experiment  that  it  would 
be  best  to  test  before  Congress  reassembled.  I  am 
confirmed  in  that  belief  by  the  messages  which  he  sent 
to  the  Governors  of  Florida  and  Mississippi,  stating  that 
the  restoration  of  their  States  would  depend  upon  Con 
gress;  but  I  do  not  think  it  resulted  in  developing 
loyalty  at  the  South.  Congress  at  last  convened  on  the 
first  Monday  of  December  last.  It  could  not  convene 
earlier,  for  it  had  no  power  to  meet  until  its  regular 
session,  unless  convened  by  the  President.  It  appointed 
a  committee  to  examine  into  the  condition  of  the  late 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  295 

Confederate  States,  and  it  was  only  one  short  month  ago 
they  received  official  documents  from  the  Executive 
Departments,  which  enabled  them  to  know  what  trans 
pired  during  the  long  recess  of  Congress,  and  now  it  is 
able  to  act  intelligently,  with  some  official  knowledge 
of  the  situation. 

"  You  will  ask,  perhaps,  what  is  my  policy  of  recon 
struction.  I  will  tell  you  in  a  few  words.  It  is  the 
policy  of  reconstruction  laid  down  by  Andrew  Johnson 
with  such  emphasis  and  earnestness  in  his  speeches  made 
to  the  public  between  the  month  of  June,  1864,  and  the 
month  of  May,  1865.  Whatever  may  be  the  change  in 
his  views  now,  they  showed  his  construction  then  of  the 
Baltimore  platform ;  his  radical  speeches  in  Tennessee 
were  indorsed  by  his  election,  and  I  stand  by  those 
declarations.  They  can  be  condensed  into  one  single 
sentence,  and  that  is,  '  Loyal  men  shall  govern  a  pre 
served  Kepublic.' " 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

LETTER  OF  MR.  COLFAX,  JULY,  1866,  TO  CONTENTION  OP 
NINTH  CONGRESSIONAL  DISTRICT  OF  INDIANA — HIS  RE- 
NOMINATION — RECEPTION  AT  HOME — RE-ELECTION" — 
RESPONSE  AT  WASHINGTON  TO  THE  WELCOME  BACK 
GIVEN  TO  THE  THIRTY-NINTH  CONGRESS. 

UPON  the  adjournment  of  Congress  in  July,  the  con 
test  between  the  President  and  Coagress  was  continued 


296  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

before  the  people.  The  election  for  members  of  the 
Fortieth  Congress  was  pending.  Mr.  Colfax  wrote  the 
following  letter  to  the  nominating  convention  of  his 
district : 

"  HOUSE  OF  KEPRESENTATIVES, 

"  WASHINGTON,  July  2,  1866. 

"  DEAR  SIRS  :  The  harmony  and  success  of  the  Union 
organization,  welded  together  in  the  furnace-fire  of  a 
four  years'  war,  is  of  such  paramount  importance  to  all 
other  considerations,  that  I  write  you  this  letter  to  be 
read  at  the  Westville  Convention,  that  my  position  may 
be  unmistakably  understood  by  those  who  have  honored 
me  with  their  confidence  so  cordially  and  so  long. 

"  Last  winter,  when  my  name  had  been  suggested  by 
several  papers  in  various  parts  of  the  State  for  the 
Senate,  I  published  a  card,  stating  that  I  was  not,  and 
never  had  been,  a  candidate  for  that  distinguished  posi 
tion,  having  always  preferred  service  in  the  House.  But 
my  name  must  not  be  in  the  way  a  single  moment,  if 
any  considerable  portion  of  the  Convention  prefer  some 
other  standard  bearer,  even  though  that  portion  should 
be  a  minority.  In  that  event,  the  delegation  from  St. 
Joseph  county  are  requested  to  withdraw  my  name,  and 
to  pledge  my  most  earnest  exertions  to  whoever  of  the 
many  active  and  faithful  friends  of  the  Union  cause  the 
Convention  may  prefer  to  nominate. 

"  The  contest  before  us  is  of  as  vital  importance  to 
the  truest  and  best  interests  of  the  nation  as  the  exciting 
contests  of  1862  and  1864;  and  the  issues  should  be 
clearly  and  distinctly  before  the  people.  They  can  be 
condensed  into  a  single  question,  *  Which  shall  govern 
in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  loyalty  or  disloyalty  T  It  has 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co  If  ax.  297 

been  well  said,  in  language  as  terse  as  it  is  true,  that 
the  power  to  carry  on  war  for  national  existence  carries 
with  it  the  power  to  prescribe  the  terms  of  peace.  The 
duty  of  guarding  the  land  against  the  danger  of  a  second 
rebellion  is  as  imperative  as  its  preservation  from  the 
first.  And  nothing  seems  clearer  than  that  the  same 
authority  which  prevented  eleven  States  from  destroying 
the  Union,  has  a  right,  as  indisputable  as  the  right  of 
self  defence,  to  regulate  the  resumption  of  the  relations 
of  these  States. 

"  When  the  rebel  armies  surrendered,  the  President 
decided,  and  rightly,  that  civil  government  had  been 
destroyed  in  each  of  the  rebel  States,  and  he  officially 
proclaimed  that  fact  in  his  commissions  to  provisional 
Governors  thereof.  The  Congressional  policy  starts 
from  the  same  initial  point.  The  President  declared 
that  essential  conditions,  involving  great  changes,  must 
be  complied  with  by  those  States  before  they  could 
resume  their  forfeited  rights.  And  so  does  Congress. 
The  President  required  the  ratification  of  an  important 
Constitutional  amendment,  which  had  been  submitted 
by  a  Congress  representing  the  loyal  States,  and  in  which 
the  rebel  States  had  no  voice.  And  Congress  makes  a 
similar  demand  to-day.  If  the  President  could  rightfully 
require  their  ratification  of  one  amendment,  changing 
their  whole  system  of  labor,  and  destroying  what  they 
regarded  as  vested  rights  of  property,  proposed  by  a 
Congress  in  which  they  were  unrepresented,  and  in 
conflict,  as  it  was,  with  their  life-long  prejudices,  why 
cannot  the  Congress,  elected  as  the  law-making  power 
of  the  country  by  the  same  voters  as  himself,  require 
the  ratification  of  another  amendment,  preventing  the 
rebel  States  from  wielding  increased  power  in  Congress 


29  3  Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax. 

hereafter,  because  of  the  war,  which,  against  their  de 
sires,  had  lifted  their  slaves  into  the  full  stature  of 
freemen  ? 

"That  this  amendment  is  in  accordance  with  the 
wishes  of  the  loyal  millions  who  won  the  brilliant  polit 
ical  victory  of  1864,  is  proven  by  the  unanimity  with 
which  it  was  supported  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 
Every  man,  elected  as  a  Union  member,  whether  from 
the  North  or  the  South,  from  the  East  or  the  West,  gave 
it  his  vote;  not  barely  the  two-thirds  required  by  the 
Constitution,  but  nearly  four-fifths.  On  this  amend 
ment,  as  a  security  for  the  future,  the  Union  party  of 
the  nation  have  planted  themselves;  and  I  shall  stand 
with  them  most  cordially,  vindicating  its  justice,  wisdom, 
and  necessity,  and  willing  on  it  to  stand  or  fall. 

"For  one,  I  do  not  doubt  the  result.  Shall  rebels 
settle  their  own  terms  of  coming  back  to  govern  us? 
Shall  they  reascend  to  enlarged  and  increased  powers, 
using  as  steps  the  graves  of  the  Union  dead  ?  Should 
not  Congress,  whose  solemn  duty  it  is  to  see  that  the 
Republic  suffers  no  evil,  pause  before  the  bitter  foes  of 
yesterday  are  admitted  to  the  inner  sanctuary  of  the 
nation's  life?  Ought  they  not  to  guard  the  halls  of 
national  legislation  from  being  trodden  by  the  feet  of 
those  who  have  been  murdering  the  defenders  of  the 
Union  for  fidelity  to  an  allegiance  they  themselves  so 
wickedly  repudiated  ? 

"  Every  newspaper  in  the  land,  North  or  South,  which 
eulogized  Jefferson  Davis  and  villified  Abraham  Lincoln, 
now  denounces  Congress  in  the  severest  terms.  Every 
unrepentant  rebel  and  unscrupulous  sympathizer  joins 
them  in  their  revilings.  But  I  rejoice  that  it  has  been 
so  faithful,  so  inflexible,  in  whut  it  has  regarded  as  the 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  299 

pathway  of  Duty  and  of  Bight.  And  it  now  remains 
for  the  people,  by  their  indorsement  or  rejection  of  its 
proposed  Constitutional  guarantee,  to  approve  or  to  con 
demn  those  who  present  it  as  an  indispensable  pre 
requisite  to  the  restoration  of  the  forfeited  rights  and 
the  political  power  our  enemies  made  such  hot  haste  to 
resign  and  abjure  at  the  opening  of  the  rebellion.  Nor 
are  these  terms  oppressive  or  unjust.  Never  has  a 
nation,  whose  existence  has  been  imperilled,  and  whose 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  graves,  and  thousands  of  mil 
lions  of  debt,  attest  its  gigantic  sacrifices,,  offered  more 
lenient  conditions  to  those  who  conspired  for  its  de 
struction.  Have  we  forgotten  the  insulting  defiance  with 
which  their  members,  sworn  like  ourselves  to  the  Con 
stitution  and  the  Union,  left  their  seats  here — the  per 
secutions,  conscriptions,  tyranny,  expulsions,  and  hanging 
by  the  rebel  authorities  of  all  who  refused  to  foreswear 
like  themselves,  their  allegiance  to  their  country  and 
their  flag — the  wilful  torture  and  starvation  of  scores  of 
thousands  of  our  soldiers  when  prisoners  in  their  hands 
— their  unyielding  persistency  in  the  parricidal  conflict 
till  armed  rebellion  expired,  not  from  change  of  will, 
but  from  poverty  of  resources,  and  the  heroism  of  the 
loyal  boys  in  blue — the  continued  existence  of  this 
hostile  feeling  as  evidenced  in  their  political  and  social 
proscription  of  every  Southerner  who  fought  for  his 
country,  the  disloyal  utterances  of  their  press  and  pulpit, 
and  the  election  in  every  rebel  State  of  Governors  who 
had  served  or  fought  for  the  rebellion?  Despite  all 
this,  Congress  only  asks  that  representation  North  and 
South  shall  be  based  on  those  eligible  to  participation 
in  political  power ;  that  the  civil  rights  of  all  persons, 
native  born  or  naturalized  shall  be  maintained;  the 


joo  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

national  debt  and  the  pension  list  preserved  inviolate ; 
the  rebel  debt  repudiated;  and  exclusion  from  office  of 
those  who,  having  once  taken  and  broken  an  oath  of 
fidelity  to  the  nation,  could  not  be  trusted  in  the  faithful 
fulfilment  hereafter  of  another  similar  obligation. 

"  Contrast  this  with  the  course  of  our  fathers  towards 
those  who,  during  the  revolutionary  war,  refused  to 
fight  for  the  independence  of  the  Colonies.  The  tories 
of  that  day  insisted  that  their  allegiance  and  loyalty 
were  due  to  the  King,  and  that  they  should  not  be  com 
pelled  to  transfer  them.  But  the  stern  patriots  who 
founded  our  Government  would  tolerate  no  such  argu 
ment.  Determined  to  create  a  pure  national  sentiment, 
they  '  made  tory  ism  odious,'  in  every  possible  way.  They 
admitted  none  of  them  to  seats  in  the  Congress  of  the 
nation  against  which  they  had  warred.  They  allowed 
no  floral  processions  to  the  graves  of  the  tory  dead,  nor 
the  use  of  such  pretexts  for  treasonable  speeches  of  eu 
logy  on  their  '  lost  cause.'  They  suffered  no  tory  papers 
to  exist,  and  scatter  their  malignant  poison  over  the 
land.  They  disfranchised  and  expatriated  them.  Such 
was  the  reconstruction  policy  of  our  fathers. 

"Strongly  in  contrast  with  this  as  is  the  reconstruc 
tion  policy  of  Congress,  so  mild  and  forgiving  of  the 
blackest  of  crimes,  not  for  revenge  but  for  defence, 
not  for  punishment  but  for  justice,  our  Democratic  op 
ponents  have  arrayed  themselves  against  it,  and  the  peo 
ple  are  to  decide  the  issue.  If  you  would  take  oh  board 
as  a  crew  to  work  your  ship  those  who  had  just  been 
striving  to  scuttle  and  destroy  it,  then  it  might  be  be 
lieved  that  the  American  people  would  throw  open  the 
doors  of  their  Congress,  and  intrust  appropriations  for 
pensions  and  the  public  debt,  and  legislation  for  all 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  301 

matters  of  national  concern,  to  those  who  sought  to 
whelm  the  nation  in  a  common  ruin,  and  who,  if  they 
had  the  power  to  day,  would  shatter  the  Kepublic  and 
rebuild  their  Confederacy. 

"In  1864,  when  the  Democratic  National  Convention 
at  Chicago  resolved  that  the  war  was  a  failure,  and  de 
manded  an  immediate  cessation  of  hostilities  by  our 
armies,  thus  waving  the  white  flag  of  surrender,  Jef 
ferson  Davis,  the  President  of  the  rebel  conspiracy, 
waited  and  watched  for  the  result  with  the  deepest  anx 
iety.  The  magnificent  uprising  of  the  people  destroyed 
his  hopes ;  and,  with  the  resistless  blows  of  our  gallant 
soldiers,  his  wicked  cause  went  down.  Now,  in  1866, 
A.  H.  Stevens,  the  Vice-President  of  that  treasonable 
organization,  proclaims  that  their  hope  is  in  the  elec 
tions  of  this  fall.  Again  these  false  hopes  must  be  de 
stroyed.  The  rebel  States  will  realize,  in  the  response 
of  the  loyal  millions  to  the  issue,  that  the  determination 
of  those  who  saved  the  Union  from  their  fierce  attacks, 
to  have  guarantees  against  another  rebellion,  is  inflex 
ible.  Yielding  as  they  must  to  these  demands, 
which,  considering  their  course,  are  even  more  gener 
ous  than  just,  the  Fortieth  Congress  will  witness  loyal 
Senators  and  Representatives  in  their  seats  from 
every  State.  And  the  Union,  thus  auspiciously  recon 
structed  on  the  enduring  basis  of  loyalty,  universal 
liberty,  the  elevation  of  the  oppressed,  and  the  right  of 
all  men,  born  under  our  flag,  or  naturalized  in  our 
courts,  to  the  equal  protection  of  the  law,  will  commence 
a  new  career  of  progress,  prosperity  and  power. 
"  Truly  yours, 

"  SCHUYLER  COLFAX." 


302  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

Mr.  Colfax  was  again,  for  the  eighth  time,  unani 
mously  and  enthusiastically  nominated.  He  returned 
to  his  home  at  South  Bend,  on  Wednesday,  August  1st. 
His  return  was  made  the  occasion  of  a  grand  public 
rejoicing  by  the  people  of  the  community  in  which  he 
has  lived  for  thirty  years,  and  who,  knowing  him 
intimately,  are  all  the  more  firmly  his  friends  for  that 
thorough  knowledge.  That  reception  was  thus  described 
by  the  Rev.  Arthur  Edwards,  one  of  the  editors  ©f 
the  Northwestern  Christian  Advocate,  of  Chicago : 

"On  last  Wednesday,  August  1st,  1866,  the  Hon. 
Speaker  Schuyler  Colfax  reached  his  home  at  South 
Bend,  Indiana,  where  he  was  greeted  in  good,  old- 
fashioned  Hoosier  style,  by  earnest,  loyal,  political,  and 
personal  friends.  These,  with  heartfelt  unanimity, 
seemed  to  share  a  common  spirit  of  enthusiasm.  When 
the  morning  train  reached  Laporte  and  South  Bend, 
crowds  were  in  waiting.  At  the  depot  of  the  latter 
place  were  old  patriarchs  who  knew  '  our  boy  Schuyler,' 
middle-aged  men  whom  he  had  gracefully  distanced  in 
the  race  of  life,  and  wondering  children,  to  whom  this 
was  a  holiday,  attending  carriages,  wagons,  nondescript 
vehicles  of  all  sorts,  flags,  banners,  and  bands  playing 
*  Home,  Sweet  Home,'  all  in  waiting  to  honor  the  return 
of  a  distinguished  yet  simple-hearted  citizen.  Descend 
ing  from  the  railway  platform,  Mr.  Colfax  was  almost 
literally  carried  in  their  arms  to  an  adjoining  rostrum, 
where,  in  intense  silence,  the  formal  yet  sincere  and 
touching  welcome  was  pronounced  by  Judge  Wade, 
formerly  Colonel  of  the  Seventy-third  Indiana  Infantry, 
who,  during  the  war,  was  by  Mr.  Colfax  delivered  from 
actual  squalid  horrors  and  impending  death  in  Libby 
Prison. 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co  If  ax.  303 


"  The  orator,  in  substance,  thanked  Mr.  Colfax  in  the 
name  of  his  fellow -citizens  for  the  honors  he  in  his  pub 
lic  life  had  won  for  them ;  in  the  name  of  loyal  citi 
zens,  who  feel  that  he  is  a  prominent  part  of  the  trusty- 
bulwark  which  shields  them  from  public  enemies ;  and, 
finally,  in  the  name  of  soldiers  who  have  learned  by 
experience  that  he  was  patriotically,  unselfishly^  con 
stantly,  and  unflaggingly  devoted  to  their  interests. 

"  The  speaker  closed,  and  for  a  moment  we  trembled 
for  the  silver-tongued  statesman,  who  hitherto  had 
gracefully  addressed  Presidents  and  Senates,  but  whose 
owner's  heart  seemed  just  then  more  ready  to  sit  down 
and  weep  upon  the  threshold  of  its  bereaved  home,  than 
to  dictate  the  words  whose  meaning  it  were  far  easier  to 
feel.  But  soon  the  ringing  sentences  began  to  flow,  and 
the  returning  guest  to  feel  literally  at  home.  Then  the 
shouts,  and  the  procession  through  the  streets,  whose 
doors  and  windows  fairly  shone  with  nodding  heads 
and  bright  faces.  For  once  in  our  life,  amid  all  this 
unostentatious,  spontaneous  excitement  of  that  pure 
inland  town,  we  discovered  a  prophet  having  honor  and 
enjoying  love  '  in  his  own  country.'  We  wo\ild  rather 
have  that  honor  and  love  than  the  Speakership.  Twice 
happy  the  man  who  enjoys  both  at  the  hands  of  the 
American  Republic." 

Upon  the  afternoon  of  the  day  of  his  return  home,  he 
opened  the  canvass  of  his  district  in  a,  speech  to  over 
five  thousand  people.  The  following  paragraphs  will 
give  us  the  spirit  of  the  speech,  and  what  manner  of  life 
it  had  pervading  its  arguments : 

"  I  say  now  at  the  outset,  lest  any  man  may  misunder 
stand  the  long  argument  I  make  to-day,  if  there  is  any 
voter  of  this  district  here  to-day  who  is  anxious  that  his 


304  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

Representative  should  favor  the  unconditional  admission 
into  the  councils  of  the  nation  of  the  men  who  have 
been  the  murderers  of  your  brothers,  your  sons,  and 
your  friends,  who  plunged  this  country  into  all  the 
anarchy,  the  bloodshed,  and  desolation  of  civil  war,  that 
man  ought  not  to  vote  for  me  for  Representative. 

"The  silent  admonitions  from  the  quarter  million 
graves  of  Union  dead  come  to  us,  never  to  surrender  the 
interests  of  this  great  land  into  the  hands  of  the  men 
against  whom  they  warred,  and  who  shot  them  down. 
It  seems  to  me  that  argument  is  useless  in  a  case  like 
this.  This  treason  tore  from  you  your  husbands,  fathers, 
brothers,  sons;  it  tortured  them  with  even  fiendish 
cruelty ;  immured  them  in  the  filth  of  prison  pens ; 
starved  them  to  skeletons ;  consigned  them  to  untimely 
graves ;  and  yet  these  men,  the  leaders  of  that  treason, 
come  back  to  us  and  clamor  about '  their  rights.'  Every 
religious  creed  in  the  civilized  world  declares  three 
things  essential  to  forgiveness  for  sin :  first,  repentance, 
hearty  and  sincere ;  second,  faith  and  fidelity  to  prove 
that  repentance ;  and,  third,  good  works  as  an  evidence 
of  that  repentance.  When  I  see  these,  my  arms  will 
welcome  back  these  men  from  the  South ;  but  while  I 
see  this  spirit  of  hate  still  existing,  and  while  I  see  this 
haughty  arrogance  and  impudent,  unrepentiug  disloyalty, 
I  say,  when  we  reconstruct,  let  us  build  on  the  immortal 
principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  on  the 
solid  granite  of  indisputable  loyalty,  rather  than  the 
treacherous  quicksands  of  unrepentant  disloyalty,  and 
all  will  be  well." 

Again,  with  his  accustomed  unwearying  labor  and 
glowing  zeal,  Mr.  Colfax  traversed  his  district,  pleading 
the  cause  of  his  country  and  the  loyal  Congress  against 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  305 

a  recreant  Executive.  Again  the  old  results  followed, 
sweeping  majorities,  and  his  triumphant  re-election ;  his 
majority  in  the  county  of  his  residence,  which,  amid  all 
the  vicissitudes  of  politics,  has  always  sustained  him, 
being  greater  than  ever  before,  the  county  becoming  the 
banner-county  of  the  district. 

Throughout  the  country,  the  loyal  Congress  was  sus 
tained,  and  the  policy  of  the  President  condemned,  by 
the  ballots  of  the  people.  Upon  the  return  of  this  Con 
gress  to  Washington,  in  December,  it  was  welcomed 
back  again  with  a  public  reception  from  its  loyal  citizens. 
Mr.  Colfax  made  the  following  response  to  this  welcome 
back  to  Washington  of  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress : 

"  FELLOW-CITIZENS  :  Only  four  months  have  passed 
away  since  the  first  session  of  this  Congress  closed,  and 
the  members,  whom  you  now  greet  with  such  earnest 
and  generous  welcome,  returned  to  their  homes  to  render 
an  account  of  their  stewardship  to  the  people,  and  to 
discuss  before  that  tribunal,  from  which  there  is  no 
rightful  appeal,  the  greatest  issues  ever  submitted. 

"On  the  battle-field,  to  which  treason  invited  the  nation, 
our  defenders,  on  sea  too  as  well  as  on  shore,  had  tri 
umphantly  decided  that  our  star-gemmed  banner  should 
never  become  the  winding  sheet  of  the  World's  best  hopes ; 
but,  after  their  conflicts  and  their  sacrifices,  it  remained 
for  the  people  at  the  ballot-box,  and  the  people's  Senators 
and  Representatives  in  these  halls  of  legislation,  to  guard 
the  Republic  effectually  against  another  rebellion,  drench 
ing  the  land  in  blooS,  and,  after  this  terrible  contest  for 
national  existence,  to  reconstruct  it  on  such  enduring 
principles  that  posterity  would  realize  to  the  latest 
syllable  of  recorded  time  that  our  fallen  heroes  had  not 
died  in  vain. 


306  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"But  four  months  since  we  left  this  Capital ;  yet  how 
crowded  are  they  with  events !  the  bloody  massacre  at 
New  Orleans  the  very  week  after  our  adjournment;  and 
the  extraordinary  speech  of  the  president  at  St.  Louis, 
palliating  the  guilt  of  the  murderers  and  charging  its 
grave  responsibilities  on  the  Congress  of  the  United 
{States ;  the  two  Philadelphia  conventions,  the  one  mem 
orable  for  the  frank  acknowledgment,  that  those  who  de 
nounced  Congress  are  really  arm-in-arm  with  the  men 
trampling  on  broken  oaths,  who  had  sought  to 
destroy  the  nation's  life ;  and  the  other  honored  by  the 
presence  of  faithful  loyalists,  who,  when  the  storm  of 
treason  swept  over  their  States,  refused  to  bow  the  knee 
to  Baal ;  the  expulsion  from  office  of  thousands,  trusted 
and  commissioned  by  our  martyred  President,  to  whom, 
more  than  any  other  equal  number  of  men,  the  present 
administration  is  indebted  for  the  power  it  wields,  their 
crime  being  inflexible  fidelity  to  the  principles  professed 
by  the  successful  candidate  •  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  in 
the  canvass  of  1864;  the  hundreds  of  speeches  of  the 
Presidential  tour  throughout  the  land,  and  their  repub- 
lication  in  millions  of  copies  from  all  our  prominent 
presses,  bringing  the  issues  to  the  hearthstone  of  every 
voter;  the  magnificent  response  of  the  people  from 
ocean  to  ocean,  condemning  the  policy  of  which  they  had 
heard  so  much,  and  attesting  their  unshaken  confidence 
in  the  Congress,  which  had  stood  so  fearlessly,  faithfully, 
and  so  immovably  in  the  pathway  of  duty  and  of  right. 
"Thank  God,  in  this  land  the  people  are  the  only 
rulers.  Every  two  years  they  resume  their  sovereignty, 
and,  at  the  ballot-box  given  to  them  by  the  dead 
of  the  revolution,  they  make  and  unmake  Congress. 
They  rebuke  or  condemn  administrations.  They  com- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  307 

mand,  and  Congress  and  Presidents  must  obey.  We 
return  then  to  these  halls  to  carry  out  and  enforce  this 
decision  of  the  rulers  of  the  nation,  the  people.  No  men 
can  misunderstand  their  will.  Four  points  have  been 
settled  by  them  beyond  all  controversy  : 

"  FIRST  :  That  the  work  of  reconstruction  must  be  in 
the  hands  of  those  who  have  been  the  friends,  not  the 
enemies  of  the  nation ;  that  it  must  be  based  upon  in 
disputable  loyalty,  and  that  those  whose  wicked  leader 
ship  and  guilty  repudiation  of  solemn  oaths  plunged  a 
peaceful  country  into  the  bloody  conflict  of  civil  war, 
shall  not  be  clothed  with  power  to  legislate  for  the 
widows  and  orphans — the  kith  and  kin  of  the  men  they 
have  slain,  in  their  attempt  to  slay  the  nation  itself. 

"SECOND:  That  the  promise  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  in 
his  immortal  proclamation,  that  the  freedom  of  our 
emancipated  millions  should  be  maintained,  must  be  ful 
filled  both  in  letter  and  in  spirit,  and  guaranteed  beyond 
any  power  of  abridgment  in  our  supreme  law ;  forbid 
ding  interference  by  any  unfriendly  State  with  the  priv 
ileges  and  immunities  of  the  liberty  granted  by  the  whole 
nation  to  its  people. 

"  THIRD  :  That  no  persons  shall  .be  disfranchised  in 
this  Republic  on  account  of  their  race,  and  yet  have 
their  numbers  counted  to  confer  increased  political 
power  on  those  disfranchising  them. 

"FOURTH:  That  the  national  debt,  the  cost  of  our 
national  existence,  shall  be  forever  sacred,  and  that  all 
debts  or  claims  growing  out  of  the  rebellion,  or  the 
breaking  of  fetters  that  ended  it,  shall  be  forever  held 
illegal  and  void.  And  the  people  also  decreed  as  their 
desire  and  will  that  Congress  should  enforce  this  deci 
sion  of  theirs  by  appropriate  legislation. 


308  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"  Free  as  these  few  but  vital  points  were  from  every 
consideration  of  revenge  or  malice,  looking  only  as  they 
did  to  public  justice  and  public  safety,  and  even  more 
generous  than  just,  it  was  certainly  to  have  been  ex 
pected,  that  if  there  was  in  the  region,  where  those  who 
had  warred  against  the  country  so  bitterly  for  years  still 
bore  sway,  any  returning  love  for  the  Union,  any  sorrow 
for  their  crimes,  these  essential  requirements  would  have 
been  assented  to  promptly ;  or,  if  not  promptly,  at  least 
as  soon  as  the  elections  had  manifested  the  nation's 
will.  But,  on  the  contrary,  they  are  spurned  and  scorn 
fully  rejected  by  those  who  control  public  opinion  and 
wield  political  power  in  the  South. 

"The  recent  elections  of  most  conspicuous  seces 
sionists  in  North  Carolina,  Alabama,  Arkansas,  etc., 
with  their  gubernatorial  messages,  is  the  defiant  reply. 
Kejecting  the  constitutional  amendment,  they  show  that 
they  insist  upon  representation  in  Congress,  and  the 
Electoral  College,  for  all  the  four  millions  of  their  former 
slaves,  thus  ascending  to  enlarged  and  increased  law- 
making  power  in  consequence  of  their  rebellion ;  while 
at  the  same  time  they  not  only  disfranchise  them,  and 
refuse  them  the  right  and  protection  of  citizens,  but  by 
disgraceful  laws  pretending  to  regulate  labor  contracts 
and  to  punish  vagrancy,  reduce  those  whom  the  nation 
made  free  to  a  condition  of  subserviency  and  serfdom, 
but  little,  if  any,  better  than  slavery  itself.  Yet  while 
we  cannot  compel  them  to  approve  the  constitutional 
amendment,  our  duty  to  the  nation,  to  justice,  liberty 
and  humanity,  is  none  the  less ;  and,  exponents  of  the 
national  will  as  we  are,  we  cannot  avoid  that  duty. 

"  Indeed,  we  may  see  in  it  the  finger  of  Providence. 
Like  our  fathers,  we  have  in  the  past  few  years,  '  builded 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  309 

better  than  we  knew.'  In  the  earlier  stages  of  the  war, 
how  willingly  would  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the 
people  have  consented  to  perpetual  slavery  in  the 
Eepublic,  if  Southern  traitors  had  taken  from  our  lips 
the  bloody  chalice  of  cruel  war,  which  they  compelled  *" 
us  to  drain  to  its  very  dregs.  But  God  willed  otherwise, 
and  at  last,  when  every  family  altar  had  been  crimsoned 
with  blood,  and  every  cemetery  and  church -yard 
crowded  with  patriot  graves,  the  nation  rose  to  a  higher 
plane  of  duty,  and  resolved  in  these  halls  that  slavery 
must  die.  Then  the  storm-cloud  of  war  passed  away; 
God's  smile  shone  on  our  banners,  victory  after  victory 
blessed  our  gallant  armies,  and  the  crowning  triumph 
was  won,  that  gave  salvation  to  the  Union,  and  freedom 
to  the  slave.  Since  then  we  have  been  earnestly  strug 
gling  for  reconstruction,  on  some  enduring  and  loyal 
foundation.  Stumbling-blocks  have  impeded  our  pro 
gress,  and  at  last,  when  a  mild  and  magnanimous  pro 
position  is  made,  embodying  no  confiscations,  no  banish 
ments,  no  penalties  of  the  offended  law,  we  are  baffled 
by  a  hardening  of  heart  against  it,  as  inexplicable  as  it 
seems  irremovable.  Does  it  not  seem  as  if  again  the 
Creator  was  leading  us  in  his  way  rather  than  our  own  ? 
And  as  we  turn  for  light,. does  it  not  flash  upon  us,  that 
lie  again  requires  the  nation  to  conquer  its  prejudices; 
that,  as  He,  so  far  above  us,  has  put  all  human  beings 
under  an  equality  before  the  divine  law  and  called  them 
all  his  own  children,  He  demands  that  we  should  put  all 
under  equality  before  the  human  law,  so  that  every 
person  in  all  the  region  poisoned  by  the  influences  of 
slavery  and  the  principles  of  treason,  shall  be  clothed 
with  all  the  rights  necessary  for  the  fullest  and  surest 
self- protection  against  tyranny,  outrage  and  wrong,  and 
19 


jio  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

not  left  defenceless  to  the  mercy  of  those  who  so  long 
exhibited  no  inercy  to  the  Government  they  sought  to 
destroy. 

"  The  question  naturally  arises,  how  can  this  be  done  ? 
Surrounded  by  these  able  statesmen,  returning  here  as 
they  do,  crowned  with  an  unparalleled  popular  indorse 
ment,  it  might  not  be  fitting  to  anticipate  their  argu 
ments  on  these  vital  themes  in  the  session  just  opening. 
But  when  the  Constitution  declares,  in  its  opening  sen 
tence,  that  '  all  legislative  powers  herein  granted,  shall 
be  vested  in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States ;'  when  it 
solemnly  enjoins  that  the  United  States  shall  guarantee 
to  every  State  in  this  Union  a  republican  form  of  gov 
ernment,  and  when  it  gives  to  Congress  full  authority 
to  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper 
for  carrying  into  execution  all  powers  vested  by  this 
Constitution  in  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
or  in  any  department  or  officer  thereof,  the  duty  and  its 
exercise  seem  to  have  been  specifically  anticipated  by 
the  framers  of  the  Supreme  Law.  Since  President  John 
son  declared  in  May,  1865,  that  the  rebellion  had  de 
stroyed  all  civil  government  in  the  rebellious  States, 
Congress  has  recognized  none  of  the  governments  estab 
lished  there  under  the  authority  of  military  law,  except 
the  rebel-disfranchising  government  of  the  State  of 
Tennessee ;  and  it  is  for  Congress  to  settle  the  question, 
under  the  oaths  of  its  members  to  support  and  defend 
the  Constitution,  whether  such  provisional  and  unrecog 
nized  governments,  in  which  those,  who  have  been  the 
bitter  enemies  of  the  Eepublic,  are  dominant  in  their 
executive,  legislative  and  judicial  departments — where 
to  have  been  a  soldier  of  the  Union,  dead  or  living,  is  a 
reproach — where  devotion  to  the  lost  cause  of  treason  is 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax. 


311 


openly  avowed  and  is  the  guarantee  of  popular  favor — 
where  the  colors  and  the  heroes  of  the  rebellion  are 
enthusiastically  hailed — and  where  citizenship  is  refused 
to  the  only  people  in  their  midst,  who,  as  a  class,  have 
been  loyal — are  or  are  not  republican  forms  of  govern 
ment,  which  it  is  the  duty  of  the  United  States  to  guar 
antee  and  protect.  Leaving  this  and  kindred  questions 
to  those,  who  will  so  ably  discuss  them,  can  we  not 
all  here  say,  as  loyal  and  patriotic  and  justice-loving 
citizens : 

"  *  As  for  us  and  for  our  children, 

The  vow  which  we  have  given, 
For  justice  and  humanity, 

Is  registered  in  heaven. 
No  black  laws  in  our  borders, 

No  pirate  on  our  strand, 
No  traitors  in  our  Congress, 

No  slave  upon  our  land.'  " 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

ASSEMBLING  OF  THE  FORTIETH  CONGRESS  —  VALEDIC 
TORY  FOR  THIRTY-NINTH  CONGRESS  —  ELECTED  SPEAKER 
OF  FORTIETH  CON  GRESS  —  INAUGURAL  —  TESTIMONIALS 

TO  MR.  COLFAX  AS  SPEAKER  —  B.  F.  TAYLOR  — 
"HISTORY  OF  THIRTY-NINTH  CONGRESS"  —  THADDEUS 

STEVENS  —  EX-  GOVERNOR  THOMAS,  OF  MARYLAND  — 
POPULARITY  OF  MR.  COLFAX  —  ESTIMATE  OF  ABILITY 
AND  CHARACTER  IN  CINCINNATI  GAZETTE  —  G.  A.  TOWN- 

SEND'S  GENIAL  LETTER  —  PORTRAIT  FROM  PUTNAM'S 
MAGAZINE. 

THE  Thirty-ninth  Congress,  which  had  been  fully  en 
dorsed  in  its  opposition  to  the  policy  of  the  President 
by  the  elections  for  the  Fortieth  Congress,  fearing  to 
trust  the  country  to  the  administration  of  Mr.  Johnson 
during  the  usual  time  that  intervened  between  the  dis 
solution  of  one  Congress  and  the  assembling  of  the  Con 
gress  succeeding  it,  passed  an  act  convening  the  Fortieth 
Congress,  at  noon,  upon  the  fourth  of  March,  1867. 

With  the  following  valedictory  by  the  Speaker,  the 
Thirty  -ninth  Congress  was  adjourned  without  day  : 

VALEDICTOKY. 

"  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  ^REPRESENTATIVES  : 
To  be  called  to  this  responsible  position,  by  the  volun 
tary  choice  of  my  fellow-members,  more  than  fills  the 
measure  of  an  honorable  ambition.  To  be  cordially  sup 
ported  by  those  of  all  political  creeds,  amid  the  exciting 
scenes  so  frequent  in  a  body  of  American  legislators,  is 
an  evidence  of  confidence  and  regard  I  shall  prize  to 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  313 

the  latest  moment  of  life.  But,  to  be  indorsed  by 
you  all,  in  the  resolution  you  have  spread  on  your 
journal,  and  which  you  adopted  with  such  unusual  sig 
nificance  and  earnestness,  beggars  me  in  words  of  thanks. 
To  be  able  to  retire  from  this  chair,  when  laying  down 
its  emblem  of  authority,  with  none  to  reproach  me,  on 
the  one  hand,  for  infidelity  to  the  principles  I  cherish, 
and  none,  on  the  other,  to  impugn  or  deny  the  rigid 
impartiality  with  which  I  have  striven  to  administer 
your  rules,  has  been  my  earnest  and  daily  endeavor  in 
the  years  that  are  now  garnered  with  the  Past. 

"  The  greatest  of  my  official  predecessors,  whose 
memory  is  still  enshrined  in  so  many  hearts,  and  who  so 
eminently  honored  this  chair,  declared  as  the  essentials 
for  a  Presiding  Officer,  promptitude  and  impartiality  in 
deciding  the  complex  questions  of  order  often  sprung 
instantaneously  upon  him;  firmness  and  thoroughness 
in  his  decisions;  patience  and  good  temper  towards 
every  member;  and,  above  all,  to  remain  cool  and  un 
shaken  amid  the  storms  of  debate,  and  during  those 
moments  of  agitation  from  which  no  deliberative  as 
sembly  is  exempt ;  carefully  guarding  the  rules  of  the 
House  from  being  sacrificed  to  temporary  passions, 
prejudices  or  interests.  Never  hoping  to  reach  this 
high  standard,  it  has  been  ever  before  my  mind,  as  the 
sculptor  studies  the  model  of  the  great  master  of  his  art, 
hoping  to  leave  behind  him  a  copy  not  entirely  un 
worthy  of  the  original. 

•  "  Though  Death  has  not  spared  our  circle,  and  New 
York,  Kentucky  and  Pennsylvania  have  been  called  to 
mourn  the  loss  of  faithful  Representatives,  we  come  to 
this  closing  hour  with  our  ranks  thinned  less  than  usual 
by  paralyzing  sickness  or  wasting  disease.  "We  separate, 


314  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

after  months  of  the  conflicts  and  excitements  of  an 
eventful  era,  with  a  genial  good-will,  as  gratifying  as  it 
is  creditable.  We  can  never  all  meet  again.  But,  as  in 
a  distant  landscape  the  eye  rests  with  delight  on  its 
beauties,  while  its  defects  are  thrown  into  unnoticed 
shade,  may  memory,  as  in  after  years  we  review  our 
associations  here,  bring  before  us  all  the  pleasures  of 
this  companionship  in  the  national  service,  forgetful  of 
the  asperities  which  should  perish  with  the  occasions 
that  evoked  them. 

"  But,  as  these  parting  words  are  said,  another  Con 
gress  wait  for  our  seats ;  and,  with  a  heart  full  of  grati 
tude  for  your  unvarying  kindness,  I  declare  the  House 
of  Representatives  of  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress  of  the 
United  States  adjourned  without  day." 

Immediately  upon  the  adjournment  of  the  Thirty-ninth 
Congress,  the  clerk  commenced  calling  the  roll  of  the 
Fortieth  Congress.  Mr.  Colfax  was  .for  the  third  time 
elected  Speaker.  Upon  taking  the  chair,  he  made  the 
following  address: 

"GENTLEMEN:  Elected  for  the  third  time  to  this 
responsible  and  trying  position;  I  appreciate  more  than 
ever  before  the  importance  of  this  trust,  and  realize  more 
than  when  first  entering  jipon  its  difficult  duties  the 
absolute  necessity  of  your  confidence  and  support.  Nor 
do  I  overrate  the  gravity  of  our  position  as  American 
legislators. 

" '  The  years  have  never  dropped  their  sand 
On  mortal  issue  vast  and  grand 
As  ours  to-day. ' 

"A  nation  decimated  by  the  conflicts  of  fraternal 
strife,  a  land  desolated  by  the  destructive  marches  of 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co  If  ax.  315 

hostile  armies,  a  people  with  the  fruits  of  prolonged 
war,  ripened  into  the  gloomy  harvest  of  hearts  dead 
with  the  bullet,  as  well  as  hearts  heavy  with  bereave 
ment  and  broken  with  anguish,  look  anxiously,  from 
North  and  South  alike,  to  this  Capital  of  our  continen 
tal  domain. 

"  But  there  is  a  pathway  of  duty  luminous  with  light, 
and  by  that  light  should  we  walk.  It  is  to  guide  our 
steps  by  the  justice  of  God  and  the  rights  of  man.  It  is 
to  anchor  our  legislation,  on  what  the  great  Commoner 
of  England,  John  Bright,  declares  to  be  the  simple  but 
sublime  principles,  on  which  great  national  questions 
should  be  settled,  the  basis  of  Eternal  Eight.  It  is  to 
write  on  our  banner  those  words  that  will  shine  brighter 
than  the  stars  that  gem  the  firmament — '  liberty,  loyalty 
and  law.'  It  is  to  so  make  history  that  posterity  shall 
rise  up  and  call  us  blessed. 

"The  Congress,  which  has  just  passed  away,  has 
written  a  record,  that  will  be  long  remembered  by  the 
poor  and  the  friendless  whom  it  did  not  forget.  Mis 
represented,  or  misunderstood,  by  those  who  denounced 
it  as  enemies;  harshly  and  unjustly  criticized  by  some 
who  should  have  been  its  friends,  it  proved  itself  more 
faithful  to  human  progress  and  liberty  than  any  of  its 
predecessors.  The  outraged  and  the  oppressed  found  in 
these  Congressional  halls  champions  and  friends.  Its 
key-note  of  policy  was,  protection  to  the  down- trodden. 
It  quailed  not  before  the  mightiest,  and  neglected  not  the 
obscurest.  It  lifted  the  slave,  whom  the  nation  had  freed, 
up  to  the  full  stature  of  manhood.  It  placed  on  our 
statute-book,  the  Civil  Eights  Bill  as  our  national  Magna 
Charta,  grander  than  all  the  enactments  of  the  American 
code.  And  in  all  the  region,  whose  civil  governments 


316  Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax. 

had  been  destroyed  by  a  vanquished  rebellion,  it  declared 
as  a  guarantee  of  defence  to  the  weakest,  that  the  free 
man's  hand  should  wield  the  freeman's  ballot  and  that 
I  none  but  loyal  men  should  govern  a  land,  which  loyal 
sacrifices  had  saved.  Taught,  too,  by  inspiration  that 
new  wine  could  not  be  safely  put  in  old  bottles,  it  pro 
claimed  that  there  could  be  no  safe  or  loyal  reconstruction 
on  a  foundation  of  unrepentant  treason  or  disloyalty. 

"Fortunate  will  it  be  for  us,  if,  when  we  surrender 
these  seats  to  our  successors,  we  can  point  to  a  record 
which  will  shine  on  the  historic  page,  like  that  of  the 
Congress  which  has  just  expired.  Thrice  fortunate  if, 
when  we  leave  this  Capitol,  our  whole  national  structure 
shall  be  permanently  restored,  resting  on  the  sure  foun 
dation-stones  of  loyalty,  unity,  liberty  and  right. 

"  With  sugh  convictions  of  duty  I  come  to  this  chair 
to  administer  your  rules,  but  not  as  a  partisan.  I  appeal 
to  you  for  that  generous  support  by  which  alone  a 
presiding  officer  can  be  sustained,  pledging  you  in  return 
an  inflexible  impartiality,  which  shall  be  proved  by  my 
deeds.  And,  invoking  on  your  deliberations  the  favor 
of  Him  who  holds  the  destinies  of  nations  in  the  hollow 
of  his  hand,  I  am  now  ready  to  take  the  oath  of  office 
prescribed  by  law." 

During  Mr.  Colfax's  first  term  of  service  as  Speaker, 
B.  F.  Taylor,  of  Chicago,  thus  wrote  of  him : 

"Master  of  parliamentary  law,  acute,  accurate,  patient, 
he  keeps  the  legislative  deck  cleared  for  action  and  the 
good  ship  steadily  under  way.  He  may  bring  a  turbulent 
member's  unruly  sentence  to  the  hammer  and  pound  it 
to  pieces,  but  he  does  not  strike  off  his  own  patience 
with  the  same  blow ;  his  abiding  good  temper  is  never 
going,  gone.  A  matter  may  be  cumbered  with  all 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  317 

manner  of  parliamentary  hedges  and  ditches,  but  it  all 
seems  clear  to  him  as  the  king's  highway.  I  did  not 
marvel  at  his  rigid  impartiality,  but  his  wonderful 
readiness  challenged  my  admiration.  No  matter  what 
question  in  unexpected  places  might  be  sprung  upon 
him,  it  was  no  sooner  asked  than  answered,  as  if  it  was 
j  ust  a  part  of  a  play  and  this  was  the  rehearsal. 

"Endurance  more  than  brilliance,  is  an  essential 
quality  of  a  presiding  officer.  A  man  of  common  nerve 
will  bear  a  five  hours'  strain,  perhaps,  for  a  single  day,  but 
when  you  add  to  that  a  three  hours'  night  watch  at  the 
wheel  and  then  repeat  that  eked-out  day  till  the  '  log ' 
runs  out  to  months,  and  the  months  make  half  a  year,  and 
if  there  is  no  twang  to  the  strings  then,  no  abatement  of 
the  natural  force,  no  confusion  or  impatience,  you  may 
conclude,  that  he  is  not  an  '  iron '  man,  as  some  would 
say,  but  of  far  better  material ;  as  much  better  as  splendid 
brain  and  nerves,  warmed  up  with  mental  life,  are,  than 
the  iron  turned  and  twisted  in  the  blacksmith's  fire. 

"Admirably  adapted  for  the  delicate  and  difficult 
duties  of  third  officer  of  the  Government,  he  has  nobly 
discharged  them,  no  matter  whom  you  remember  as 
having  occupied  that  chair  before  him." 

A  historian  of  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress  has  thus 
written :  <(  In  so  large  a  legislative  body,  composed  of 
so  many  men  of  independent  thought  and  action,  ac 
knowledging  no  parliamentary  leader,  it  is  remarkable 
that  the  wheels  of  legislation  should  run  so  smoothly, 
and  that,  after  all  the  disagreement  in  discussion,  great 
results  should  at  last  be  harmoniously  wrought  out. 
This  is  partly  due  to  the  patriotic  spirit  which  pervaded 
the  minds  of  its  members,  inducing  them  to  lay  aside 
minor  differences  of  opinion  for  the  good  of  that  common 


3 1 8  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

country  for  which  their  constituents  had  lately  made 
such  tremendous  sacrifice.  The  result  is  also  owing  to 
the  parliamentary  ability  and  tact  of  him  who  sat  pa 
tiently  and  faithfully  as  Speaker  of  the  House.  Deprived 
by  his  position  of  opportunity  of  taking  part  in  the  dis 
cussions,  which  his  genius  and  experience  fitted  him  to 
illustrate,  he,  nevertheless,  did  much  to  direct  the  cur 
rent  of  legislation  which  flowed  smoothly  or  turbidly 
before  him." 

Thaddeus  Stevens,  universally  recognized  and  followed 
as  "  the  leader"  of  the  House  for  many  sessions  past,  has 
said  of  Mr.  Colfax :  "  As  Speaker,  I  believe  no  abler 
officer  ever  presided  over  a  deliberative  body."  And 
the  same  opinion  has  been  publicly  expressed  by  ex- 
Governor  Thomas,  of  Maryland,  a  prominent  member  of 
Congress  in  1835,  as  he  is  now,  and  who  has  probably 
witnessed,  as  a  spectator,  the  presiding  of  nearly  every 
Speaker  for  the  past  forty  years. 

It  is  doubtless  true  that  no  Speaker  has  ever  been 
more  universally  popular.  His  political  opponents  have 
awarded  to  him  the  highest  praise  for  his  impartiality 
and  unswerving  justice  to  them.  A  despatch,  sketching 
the  closing  scenes  of  the  first  session  of  the  Thirty-ninth 
Congress,  says :  "  The  hall  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  and  the  galleries  were  crowded  with  spectators, 
watching  with  interest  the  closing  moments  of  a  session 
that  will  be  memorable  in  history.  The  Speaker's  vale 
dictory  was  listened  to  in  deep  silence,  and  as  he  spoke 
the  last  words  there  was  an  outburst  of  applause.  One  of 
the  Democratic  members,  Mr.  Stroud,  crying  vehemently, 
'  Three  cheers  for  our  noble  Speaker !'  the  call  was  re 
sponded  to  heartily.  Occupying  a  station  full  of  the 
most  perplexing  difficulties,  he  has  filled  it  with  such 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  3 1 9 

rare  wisdom  and  felicity  as  to  challenge  the  outspoken 
and  warmest  admiration  of  his  political  adversaries." 

When,  at  the  opening  of  the  Fortieth  Congress,  Mr. 
Colfax  was  nominated  for  Speaker  for  the  third  time,  it 
was  "amid  as  enthusiastic  and  universal  clapping  of 
hands  as  was  ever  vouchsafed  to  a  public  favorite.  No 
partisan  demonstration  of  .approbation.  Republicans 
did  not  cheer  more  than  Democrats,  nor  women  more 
than  men,  nor  the  House  more  than  the  galleries.  It 
was  a  spontaneous  and  affectionate  recognition  of  a  rare 
personality  and  a  true  manhood." 

Many  pen-portraitures  of  Mr.  Colfax  have  been  given 
to  the  press.  The  following  estimate  of  his  character 
and  abilities  is  given  by  a  Washington  correspondent  of 
the  Cincinnati  Gazette,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Boynton,  Chaplain 
of  the  House,  under  date  of  February  8th,  1868.  It  is 
certainly  not  overwrought : 

"  The  name  of  Schuyler  Colfax  is  mentioned  in  politi 
cal  circles  as  a  probable  candidate  for  high  honors.  Of 
course  hundreds  are  studying  his  character  with  new 
interest,  and  giving  their  views  to  the  public.  This  is 
well  in  regard  to  all  who  are  presented  to  the  people  for 
important  positions.  By  combining  these  partial  like 
nesses,  there  is  formed  what  may  be  called  a  resultant 
picture,  which  very  nearly  represents  the  man.  The 
writer  of  this  is  inclined  to  present  his  estimate  of  the 
Speaker,  because  he  is  not  satisfied  with  any  of  the 
representations  which  he  has  seen  of  the  man,  and  be 
cause  he  has  had  some  peculiar  opportunities  for  form 
ing  an  opinion.  He  boasts  of  no  intimate  relations  with- 
Mr.  Colfax,  and  private  friendship,  therefore,  does  not 
warp  his  judgment,  while  he  is  not  so  far  removed  as  to 
know  him  only  as  a  public  officer. 


320  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"During  the  sessions  of  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress, 
and  the  Fortieth,  thus  far,  Mr.  Colfax  has  unconsciously 
given  me  a  daily  'sitting'  for  his  portrait;  o~  rather,  I 
have  been  sitting  a  short  time,  daily,  in  his  presence,  to'» 
receive  a  multitude  of  impressions,  which  have  gradually,' 
shaped  themselves  into  a  definite  opinion. 

"  The  Speaker  belongs  to  that  class  whose  power  is 
invariably  underrated,  until  brought  to  some  severe  test. 
They  are  regarded  as  simply  good-natured,  sunny-faced 
men,  until,  on  some  great  occasion,  we  start  to  see  smiles 
changed  into  lightning. 

"  He  is  constitutionally  affable,  from  gentlemanly  in 
stincts,  and  on  Christian  principle  he  is  uniformly  cour 
teous.  This  is  his  most  familiar  aspect,  and  therefore 
he  has  been  presented  to  the  country  as  a  very  prince 
of  good  nature  and  affability,  a  cheery,  sunny  man,  and 
we  are  left  to  infer,  at  least,  that  he  is  not  remarkable 
for  force,  breadth  and  depth  of  character. 

"  Truthful  as  this  is  in  regard  to  his  kindly  disposition, 
it  is  a  total  misconception  of  the  man.  Many  who  have 
only  seen  the  surface  of  his  mind,  ask,  'Do  you  think 
Mr.  Colfax  is  a  great  man?' 

"  The  answer  will  depend  upon  what  we  mean  by  '  a 
great  man.'  All  greatness  is  not  the  same.  He  has  not 
the  same  kind  of  power  which  distinguished  Mr.  Web 
ster,  or  Clay,  or  Calhoun.  They  and  their  type  of 
political  greatness  belong  to  an  age  that  has  passed  away. 
If  they  could  be  brought  back  just  as  they  were,  they 
could  not  be  the  leaders  of  this  new  era.  Their  intel 
lectual  power,  without  the  deep  moral  conviction  that 
this  age  demands,  would  be  out  of  place  in  our  great 
conflict,  and  worse  than  useless. 

"  Many,  in  looking  for  the  first  time  upon  the  Thirty- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  321 

ninth  Congress,  said,  'There  are  no  really  great  men 
here.'  Subsequent  reflection  changed  their  opinion, 
and  history  will  yet  record  that  in  every  element  of 
real  statesmanship,  in  clear,  broad  views  of  human 
rights  and  relations,  in  deep,  true  moral  convictions,  in 
all  that  constitutes  the  heroic  character,  the  leaders  of 
the  Thirty-ninth  Congress  were  superior  to  their  prede 
cessors;  and  among  them  Mr.  Colfax  was,  and  is,  an 
acknowledged  leader. 

"  They  were  men  who  met  firmly  the  shock  of  the 
most  formidable  rebellion  of  modern  times,  and  crushed 
it;  and  then,  against  the  whole  power  of  the  Executive, 
and  a  great  party  at  the  North,  and  the  reinspirited 
rebels,  conceived  and  executed  a  safe  plan  for  restoring 
the  South  and  reuniting  the  country.  Men  capable  of 
this,  are  great  men.  Now,  the  question  of  the  capacity 
of  Mr.  Colfax  is  best  answered  by  the  fact,  that,  for  three 
consecutive  Congressional  terms,  and  while  the  greatest 
questions  ever  presented  to  American  statesmen  were 
being  discussed,  in  a  time  of  extreme  peril,  these  strong 
men  invited  him  to  preside  over  them,  guide  their  de 
liberations,  and  wield  the  great  power  of  the  Speaker, 
when  any  grave  mistake  would  have  imperilled  their 
party  and  the  country. 

"Many  of  the  strong  men  in  the  House  could  do, 
perhaps,  each  in  his  own  sphere,  what  the  Speaker  could 
not ;  but  in  the  administrative  ability  needed  in  his  high 
position,  in  the  power  to  so  guide  the  great  mental 
'^rces  of  the  House  as  to  reach  a  result,  in  the 
i'aculty  of  seeing  at  a  glance  the  true  aspect  of  a  difficult 
case,  and  of  prompt  decision  in  that  '  tact/  which  means 
an  intuitive  perception  of  what  is  needed,  and  how  it 
can  be  done,  Mr.  Colfax  has  no  superior  among  our 
public  men,  in  the  House  or  elsewhere. 


322  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"Standing  on  the  front  line  of  principle,  lie  seems  not 
disposed  to  attempt  all  right  things  at  once,  but  with 
the  eye  fixed  on  the  ultimate  goal,  asks  what  is  practi 
cable  now.  His  convictions  rest  on  a  firm  moral  and 
religious  basis,  and  therefore  he  is  not  likely  to  change. 
He  is  one  of  the  best  living  representatives  of  the  true 
American  type  of  mind,  thoroughly  practical,  working 
right  on  to  definite  ends  with  great  executive  force, 
power  of  endurance,  and  an  unwearied  attention  to 
the  details  of  business.  In  any  higher  position,  he 
would  be  dealing  still  with  the  same  questions  with 
which  he  is  already  familiar ;  he  would  be  associated 
with  the  same  men  over  whose  deliberations  he  has  pre 
sided  so  long;  and  he  would  bring  to  the  conduct  of 
affairs  the  same  clear  perceptions,  the  same  power  of 
prompt  decision,  the  same  exquisite  tact  and  firmness 
that  have  distinguished  him  as  Speaker ;  and  whether 
this  kind  of  greatness  is  needed  by  the  country  now, 
each  must  decide  for  himself." 

A  Washington  letter  from  Gr.  A.  Townsend  to  the 
Cleveland  Leader  contains  this  genial  picture : 

"In  what  he  called  his  '  den/  I  found  Schuyler  Colfax, 
some  days  ago ;  a  little  closet-room,  lighted  by  one  base 
ment  window  under  the  Capitol.  It  was  a  curiosity 
shop  of  manuscript  and  documents,  order  reigning 
through  superficial  confusion.  Here  the  Speaker  hides 
himself  away  from  pages  and  harpies,  and  works  unas- 
sistedly  at  his  speeches  and  his  correspondence,  the  latter 
of  itself  a  drudgery  as  great  and  exciting  as  any  ac 
countant's. 

"  But  a  lighthouse  never  grows  old ;  after  a  hundred 
years  its  flame  is  as  youthful  as  when  it  began.  The 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  323 

pure,  unaffected,  radiant  cheerfulness  of  Mr.  Colfax 
keeps  him  as  rosy  and  hopeful  as  a  boy.  Here  he  sits, 
smoking  his  cigar,  surprised  in  the  midst  of  a  smile,  for 
dl  his  thoughts  are  good  companions. 

"I  took  a  seat  before  him,  and  while  he  answered 
some  questions  I  had  brought,  I  tried  to  make  out  his 
face  and  character — a  very  difficult  type  were  both  of 
them,  for  a  country  of  which  the  Speaker  is  so  repre 
sentative,  and  yet  of  a  temperament  so  uncommon. 

"  We  are  a  sober-minde'd  people  with  lines  of  thrift 
and  anxiety  in  our  faces,  like  the  marks  of  whip  and 
burden.  We  go  to  law  and  go  to  church  with  the  same 
countenances.  We  want  to  make  money  fast,  and  on 
the  way  and  after  the  end  we  have  remorses,  aches, 
wounded  self-esteems,  asceticisms.  The  air,  the  soil,  the 
worry  and  the  hurry  of  American  life  provincialize  the 
American  into  a  hard,  repellant,  dreadfully  over-earnest 
man,  with  a  skin,  a  stomach,  and  a  soul  equally  dys 
peptic. 

"  Out  of  this  population  a  face  grows,  now  and  then, 
like  a  clover -head  out  of  a  stock-yard,  all  freshness  and 
color,  and  quick  to  feel  the  earliest  breezes.  This  is 
Mr.  Colfax.  His  life  is  perennial  hopefulness,  having  a 
good  conscience  for  its  compass,  and  for  its  ballast  a 
temperament  that  is  equal  as  an  hour-glass.  Full  of  the 
elasticity  of  the  Empire  City,  a  widow's  son,  born  forty- 
five  years  ago,  with  a  parentage  reaching  back  on  one 
side  to  the  Schuylers,  on  the  other  to  an  officer  of  Wash 
ngton's  body  guard.  At  ten  years  of  age  his  schooling 
ceased  and  he  had  found  a  new  father.  At  thirteen  he 
quitted  New  York  and  his  step-father's  store  for  a  home 
in  Indiana.  At  twenty-two  he  was  an  editor,  twelve  hun 
dred  dollars  in  debt.  At  thirty  he  was  a  Congressman, 


324  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

as  he  has  been  ever  since,  and  three  times  elected  Speaker 
of  the  House,  the  third  position  in  the  nation.  At  the 
base  of  this  successful  career  we  find  neither  wealth, 
chicanery,  nor  patronage,  but  good  citizenship,  faithful 
public  services,  steadfast  self-respect,  and  a  cheerful 
temper.  It  is  a  quiet  career  of  success  under  Eepublican 
institutions,  with  steady  talents,  quick  perceptions,  and 
excellent  confidence.  His  model  in  the  State  has  been 
Henry  Clay,  whose  manners  were  like  his  own,  and  he 
confesses  to  have  modelled  his  Speakership  upon  Clay's 
career  as  Speaker  of  the  House.  'Never  hoping,'  he 
says,  '  to  reach  this  high  standard,  it  has  ever  been  before 
my  mind,  as  the  sculptor  studies  the  model  of  the  Great 
Master  of  his  art.' 

"Mr.  Colfax  is  a  member  of  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Church,  and  total  abstinence  is  one  of  his  private  prin 
ciples.  He  is  a  smoker,  however,  and  a  loving  traveller 
by  foot  and  stage.  His  oratory  is  fervid  and  florid 
together,  and  has  served  his  party  handsomely  in  trying 
times,  while  his  judgment  is  guarded,  yet  decisive  as  his 
mode  of  speech. 

"  He  first  announced  the  Eepublican  platform  after 
the  breach  with  Mr.  Johnson,  thus : 

" '  Let  us  make  haste  slowly,  and  we  can  then  hope 
that  the  foundations  of  our  Government,  when  thus  re 
constructed  on  the  basis  of  indisputable  loyalty,  will  be 
as  eternal  as  the  stars.' 

"In  short,  this  is  Mr.  Colfax: 

" '  The  clear, 

Persuasive  orator  of  right ;  the  pure, 
Unsullied  patriot ;  the  changeless,  sure, 
And  genial  friend,  to  many  hearts  how  dear  I'  " 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  325 

Another  portraiture  from  Putnam's  Magazine  reveals 
still  other  features  of  his  character  : 

"Without  being  educated  as  a  scholar,  industrious 
reading  has  given  him  much  of  what  is  valuable  in 
scholarship  unalloyed  by  its  pedantry,  its  clannishness, 
or  its  egotism.  Without  being  bred  a  lawyer,  practical 
familiarity  with  legislation  has  taught  him  all  that  is 
most  valuable  in  law,  freed  from  the  conservatism  and 
inaptitude  for  change  and  reform,  which  rest  like  an 
incubus  on  so  many  of  those  minds  which  are  bred  by 
the  habits  of  the  legal  profession  to  look  for  precedents 
which  show  what  the  law  has  been,  rather  than  to  broad 
principles  which  settle  what  the  law  ought  to  be.  Yet 
Mr.  Colfax  has  frequently  shown  the  happiest  familiarity 
with  precedents,  especially  in  questions  of  parliamentary 
practice.  As  a  presiding  officer  he  is  the  most  popular 
the  House  has  had  since  Henry  Clay.  His  marvellous 
quickness  of  thought,  and  talent  for  the  rapid  adminis 
tration  of  details,  enables  him  to  hold  the  reins  of  the 
House  of  Kepresentatives,  even  in  its  most  boisterous 
and  turbulent  moods,  (and,  with  the  exception  of  the 
New  York  Board  of  Brokers,  the  British  House  of 
Commons,  or  a  fair  at  Donnybrook,  it  is  the  most 
uproarious  body  in  the  world,)  with  as  much  grace  and 
ease  as  Mr.  Bonner  would  show  the  paces  of  Dexter  in 
Central  Park,  or  as  Gottschalk  would  thread  the  keys 
of  a  piano,  in  a  dreamy  maze  of  faultless,  quivering 
melody.  As  an  orator,  Mr.  Colfax  is  not  argumentative, 
except  as  clear  statement  and  sound  judgment  are  con 
vincing.  He  rides  no  erratic  hobbies.  He  demands 
few  policies  which  the  average  sense  of  intelligent  men 
cannot  be  made  to  assent  to  on  a  clear  statement  of  his 
position.  He  is  eminently  representative.  A  glance  at 

his  broad,  well-balanced,  practical  brain,  indicates  that 
20 


j  26  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

his  leading  faculty  is  the  sum  of  all  the  faculties— judg 
ment;  and  that  what  he  believes,  the  majority  of  the 
people  either  believe  or  can  be  made  to  believe.  Some 
men  may  be  further  ahead  of  the  age.  Mr.  Colfax  finds 
sufficient  occupation  and  usefulness  in  adapting  himself 
to  times  and  things  as  they  are,  without  cutting  his 
throat  with  paradoxes,  or  stealing  a  march  on  mankind 
with  some  new  light,  which  they  are  very  like  to  regard 
as  a  '  will-o'-the-wisp.'  He  has  no  eccentricities,  but 
great  tact.  His  talents  are  administrative  and  executive 
rather  than  deliberative.  He  would  make  good  appoint 
ments  and  adopt  sure  policies.  He  would  make  a 
better  President  or  Speaker  of  the  House,  than  Senator. 
He  knows  men  well,  estimates  them  correctly,  treats 
them  all  candidly  and  fairly.  No  man  will  get  through 
his  business  with  you  in  fewer  minutes,  and  yet  none  is 
more  free  from  the  horrid  brusqueness  of  busy  men. 
There  are  heart  and  kindness  in  Mr.  Colfax's  politeness. 
Men  leave  his  presence  with  the  impression  that  he  is  at 
once  an  able,  honest  and  kind  man.  Political  opponents 
like  him  personally,  as  well  as  his  political  friends.  We 
have  never  heard  that  he  has  any  enemies.  The  breath 
of  slander  has  been  silent  toward  his  fair,  spotless  fame, 
The  wife  of  his  youth,  after  being  for  a  long  time  an 
invalid,  sank  to  her  final  rest  several  years  ago,  leaving 
him  childless.  His  mother  and  sister  preside  at  his 
receptions,  which  for  many  years  have  been,  not  the 
most  brilliant,  but  the  most  popular  of  any  given  at  the 
Capital.  Socially,  Mr.  Colfax  is  frank,  lively  and  jolly. 
The  everlasting  I-hood  and  Us-ness  of  great  men  is  for 
gotten  in  his  presence.  His  manners  are  not  quite  so 
familiar  as  those  of  Lincoln,  but  nearly  so.  They  are 
gentle,  natural,  graceful,  with  a  bird-like  or  business 
like  quickness  of  thought  and  motion." 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  327 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

SPEECH  OF  MR.  COLFAX  BEFORE  THE  UNION  LEAGUE  OF 
NEW  YORK — SERENADE  SPEECH  AT  WASHINGTON 
UPON  JULY  ADJOURNMENT  OF  FORTIETH  CONGRESS. 

ON  the  7th  of  May,  1867,  Mr.  Colfax  addressed  the 
Union  League  of  New  York  city.  The  following  ex 
tracts  are  from  his  speech  on  that  occasion : 

"We  scarcely  realize  how  rapidly  and  yet  gloriously 
we  are  making  history  ;  but  posterity  will  read  it  on  the 
open  pages  of  our  country's  annals.  Six  years  ago — 
how  brief  it  seems!  but  a  fraction  of  an  individual's 
life — but  a  breath  in  the  life  of  a  nation — the  banner  of 
rebellion  waved  over  hostile  armies  and  stolen  forts 
from  the  Potomac  to  the  Eio  Grande,  and  the  on-looking 
world  predicted  the  certain  downfall  of  the  Eepublic. 
Now,  thanks  to  our  gallant  armies  and  their  gallant 
commanders — Grant,  the  inflexible — Sherman,  the  con 
queror — Sheridan,  the  invincible — and  all  their  fearless 
compatriots  on  sea  and  shore — but  one  flag  waves  over 
the  land — the  flag  that  Washington  loved,  and  that 
Jackson  and  Scott,  and  Taylor  adorned  with  their  bril 
liant  victories — the  flag  dearer  to  us  in  all  its  hours  of 
peril  than  when  gilded  by  the  sunshine  of  prosperity 
and  fanned  by  the  zephyrs  of  peace — at  last  triumphant, 
unquestioned,  unassailed.  Six  years  ago,  millions  of 
human  beings  born  on  American  soil,  created  by  the  same 
Divine  Father,  destined  to  the  same  eternal  Hereafter, 
were  sold  like  cattle,  and  our  escutcheon  was  dimmed 
and  dishonored  by  the  stain  of  American  Slavery.  To 
day,  auction-blocks,  and  manacles,  and  whipping-posts 
are,  thank  God,  things  of  the  past,  while  the  slave 


328  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

himself  has  become  the  citizen,  with  the  freedman's 
weapon  of  protection — the  ballot  in  his  own  right  hand. 
Nor  can  we  forget,  while  rejoicing  over  this  happy  con 
trast,  the  human  agencies  so  potential  in  its  accomplish 
ment.  First  and  conspicuous  among  the  rest  rises  before 
my  mind  the  tall  form  of  a  martyred  President,  whose 
welcome  step  no  mortal  ear  shall  ever  listen  to  again. 
Faithful  to  his  oath,  faithful  to  his  country,  faithful  to 
the  brave  armies  his  word  called  to  the  field,  he  never 
swerved  a  hair's  breadth  from  his  determination  to  crush 
this  mighty  rebellion,  and  all  that  gave  it  aid,  and  com 
fort,  and  support.  Unjustly  and  bitterly  denounced  by 
his  enemies,  and  yours,  as  an  usurper  and  despot ;  com 
pared  to  Nero  and  Caligula,  and  all  other  tyrants  whose 
base  deeds  blacken  the  pages  of  history,  your  noble 
League  stood  by  him  amid  this  tempest  of  detraction, 
cordially  and  to  the  end ;  and  you  have  now  your  abun 
dant  vindication  and  reward. 

"  Again,  when  in  the  very  crisis  of  the  nation's 
agonies,  he  struck  with  the  might  of  the  war-power 
against  slavery  as  the  cause  of  all  our  woes,  you  stood 
by  him,  upholding  his  hands  and  strengthening  him  in 
that  eventful  conflict.  Enemies  assailed  you  with 
epithet  and  invective:  you  were  called  negro  worship 
pers,  fanatics  and  radicals.  But  on  the  stump,  at  the 
polls,  and  in  Congress,  we  all  faced  the  issue  fearlessly 
and  the  world-accursed  system  went  down  forever  and 
forever.  No  thanks  to  our  opponents  for  this  beneficent 
consummation.  But  now,  our  enemies  being  our  judges, 
how  magnificently  are  we  endorsed?  Who  dares  now 
to  wag  his  tongue  against  it  ?  Who  repeats  the  slanders 
heaped  upon  you  but  yesterday  ?  Not  one.  Not  one. 
Yours  was  the  contest;  you  bore  the  opprobrium,  and 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  329 

yours  is  the  victory.  And  your  children  and  your 
children's  children  will  rise  up  to  call  you  blessed, 
because  you  dared,  despite  the  wrath  of  traitors  South, 
and  the  invectives  of  your  opponents  North,  to  destroy 
this  giant  wrong,  from  turret  to  foundation  stone,  even 
amid  the  agonies  and  throes  of  civil  war,  and  to  crush 
it  out  from  this  fair  land  forever. 

"But  other  duties  to  the  country  yet  remained  to  be 
performed ;  and  you,  and  those  who  thought  with  you, 
girded  your  loins  for  the  work.  The  Thirty-ninth 
Congress,  the  noblest  and  most  patriotic  body  of  men 
I  have  ever  seen  assembled  at  the  Capitol  during  my 
dozen  years  of  public  service,  wisely  rejecting  the  ill- 
advised  policy  of  an  Executive  whose  highest  ambition 
and  desire  seemed  to  have  been  to  destroy  the  party 
that  had  elevated  him  to  power,  proposed  a  Constitu 
tional  amendment,  embodying  great  principles,  that  they 
deemed  should  be  imbedded  irreversibly  in  the  National 
Constitution,  as  fitting  guarantees  for  loyal  reconstruc 
tion.  Although  indorsed  overwhelmingly  by  the  loyal 
States  at  the  ballot-box,  the  rebel  States,  hardening  their 
hearts,  spurned  and  rejected  it,  and  scoffed  at  its  framers 
and  endorsers.  And  then  guided,  as  I  believe,  by  the 
same  Providence  which  gave  our  armies  victory  after 
victory  as  soon  as  the  nation  had  written  'liberty  for 
all'  on  our  banners,  Congress  enacted  the  Military  Ee- 
construction  bills  of  March  second  and  March  twenty- 
fourth,  opening  the  ballot-boxes  to  the  loyal,  regardless 
of  color,  disfranchising  for  the  present  the  leaders  of  the 
rebellion,  and  laying  down  the  terms,  and  the  only  terms 
on  which  the  rights  forfeited  by  this  bloody  war  could 
be  resumed.  And  this  firmness  and  devotion  to  the 
right  is  bringing  forth  its  legitimate  fruit.  With  an  alac- 


33  o  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

rity  unexpected  to  many,  and  with  an  acquiescence  ex 
pected  bat  by  few,  the  vast  majority  in  the  South  are 
ignoring  their  life-long  prejudices,  and  hastening  to  ac 
cept  these  terms.  Nor  need  I  say  to  you  that  having 
carefully  elaborated  these  laws,  having  passed  them  and 
then  repassed  them  over  the  inevitable  veto  of  the  Ex 
ecutive,  the  great  party  which  has  thus  become  respon 
sible  for  them,  intend  to  stand  by  them  faithfully  and 
literally,  if  their  terms  are  complied  with  by  the  rebel 
States  in  good  faith  and  without  evasion.  They  would 
be  branded  with  dishonor,  and  their  fame  tarnished  for 
ever,  if  they  did  not.  But  it  is  a  party  whose  plighted 
word  to  the  people  has  never  been  broken,  and  will  not 
be  now.  I  regret,  indeed,  that  Mr.  Sumner's  amend 
ment,  requiring  provisions  in  the  new  Constitutions  for 
universal  education  as  a  condition  of  reconstruction,  did 
not  prevail,  but  I  hope  the  good  sense  of  the  Southern 
people  will  establish  it  voluntarily,  insuring  them  a 
warmer  welcome  as  they  return  to  the  council  board. 
I  cannot  omit,  in  passing,  to  state  that  one  of  the  es 
sentials  of  the  reconstruction  policy  is  the  election  of 
Congressmen,  who  can  honestly  and  truthfully  take  the 
oath  required  by  law.  We  should  have  been  faithless, 
and  worthy  of  the  slow,  unmoving  finger  of  scorn,  if 
this  essential  had  not  been  insisted  on  inflexibly.  When 
the  waves  of  treason  swept  over  all  that  region,  there 
were  a  faithful  few  who  refused  to  yield  to  Secession. 
Branded  as  traitors  to  the  Confederacy  because,  they 
would  not  surrender  their  birthright,  they  never  swerved 
from  their  allegiance.  Punished  by  confiscation  and*1 
robbery,  and  threatened  with  outrage  and  death,  they 
never  faltered ;  and  when  they  could  no  longer  live  peace 
ably  at  their  homes,,  they  fled  to  the  mountains,  the 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

caves,  and  the  swamps,  and  said,  '  Welcome  confiscation, 
robbery,  exile  or  death ;  but  we  stand  by  the  stars  and 
stripes  to  the  last  drop  of  our  blood,  and  the  last  beat 
of  our  hearts.'  God  bless  these  faithful  Union  men. 
They  are  to  lead  back  these  States,  clad  in  new  robes  of 
liberty  and  justice. 

"  I  cannot  doubt  the  future  of  the  great  party  which 
has  won  these  triumphs  and  established  these  principles. 
It  has  been  so  brilliantly  successful,  because  it  recog 
nized  liberty  and  justice  as  its  cardinal  principles ;  and 
because,  scorning  all  prejudices  and  defying  all  oppro 
brium,  it  allied  itself  to  the  cause  of  the  humble  and  the 
oppressed.  It  sought  to  enfranchise,  not  to  enchain  ;  to 
elevate,  not  to  tread  down ;  to  protect,  never  to  abase. 
It  cared  for  the  humblest  rather  than  for  the  mightiest — 
for  the  weakest  rather  than  the  strongest.  It  recognized 
that  the  glory  of  States  and  Nations  was  justice  to  the 
poorest  and  feeblest.  And  another  secret  of  its  wondrous 
strength  was  that  it  fully  adopted  the  striking  injunction 
of  our  murdered  chief:  '  With  malice  toward  none,  with 
charity  for  all,  but  with  firmness  for  the  right,  as  God 
gives  us  to  see  the  right.'  Only  last  month  the  British 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  D'Israeli,  in  defending  his 
Keform  Bill,  exclaimed:  'This  is  a  nation  of  classes, 
and  must  remain  so.'  If  I  may  be  pardoned  for  replying, 
I  would  say:  'This  is  a  nation  of  freemen,  and  must 
remain  so.'  Faithful  to  the  traditions  of  our  fathers  in 
sympathizing  with  all  who  long  for  the  maintenance  or 
advancement  of  liberty  in  Mexico  or  England,  in  Ireland 
or  Crete,  and  yet  carefully  avoiding  all  entangling  alli 
ances  or  violations  of  the  law,  with  a  recognition  from 
ocean  to  ocean,  North  and  South  alike,  of  the  right  of 
all  citizens  bound  by  the  law  to  share  in  the  choice  of 


332  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

the  law-maker,  and  thus  to  have  a  voice  in  the  country 
their  heart's  blood  must  defend,  our  centennial  anniver 
sary  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  will  find  us,  as 
an  entire  nation,  recognizing  the  great  truths  of  that  im 
mortal  Instrument,  enjoying  a  fame,  wide  as  the  world 
and  eternal  as  the  stars. 

Upon  the  adjournment  of  the  July  session  of  the 
Fortieth  Congress,  Mr.  Colfax  was  serenaded,  and,  in 
his  speech  upon  the  occasion,  made  the  following  re 
marks  concerning  the  course  of  the  President  and  the 
action  of  Congress : 

"  FELLOW-CITIZENS  :  There  are  two  kinds  of  sere 
nades  in  Washington :  the  first,  when  members  arrive 
to  enter  upon  the  discharge  of  their  duties ;  and  the  last, 
when,  after  the  close  of  their  labors,  they  are  about  to 
return  to  their  homes.  As  Holy  Writ  declares  that  he 
who  taketh  off  his  armor  has  more  right  to  be  proud 
than  he  who  putteth  it  on,  I  value  this  mark  of  your 
regard  more  highly,  because,  our  work  being  completed, 
you  mean  by  it,  'Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servants.' 
Congress  sincerely  desired  to  avoid  this  midsummer  ses 
sion.  They  passed  the  military  reconstruction  bills  last 
March.  The  President  vetoed  them,  on  the  explicit 
ground  that  they  made  the  military  commanders  supreme 
and  absolute  over  the  people  of  the  late  rebellious  States. 
Congress  accepted  his  construction  of  them,  and  repassed 
them  over  his  veto.  They  were  cordially  endorsed  by 
the  loyal  people  of  the  North,  and  acquiesced  in  more 
readily  than  had  been  supposed  by  the  people  of  the 
South.  Soon  it  became  apparent  that,  under  them,  loy 
alty  would  triumph  in  most  of  the  Southern  States,  and 
then  the  President  vetoed  his  own  veto,  and  promul 
gated  a  decision  of  his  Attorney -General,  that,  under 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  333 

these  laws,  the  military  commanders  were  mere  police 
men,  subordinate  to  the  provisional  Governments  over 
which  they  had  been  placed  ;  the  army  but  a  posse  comi- 
tatus  to  enforce  the  decrees  of  the  rebel  Governors  and 
Mayors ;  and  that  every  rebel  was  to  be  his  own  register. 
The  people,  surprised  at  these  decisions,  appealed  to  the 
Congress,  in  which  they  placed  such  deserved  confidence, 
to  reassemble ;  and  from  Maine  to  California  they  carne 
hither  to  resume  their  legislative  authority,  and  to  so 
declare  the  meaning  of  their  legislation  that  no  legal 
sophistries  of  any  Attorney-General  could  mystify  it. 
Vetoed  again,  they  repassed  it  by  a  vote  of  four  to  one, 
and  it  has  gone  on  the  statute-book  as  one  of  the  laws 
which  the  President,  by  his  Constitutional  oath,  must 
'take  care  to  have  faithfully  executed.'  Some,  I  know, 
condemn  Congress  for  having  done  too  much  in  its  past 
legislation,  and  some,  for  having  done  too  little ;  but  I 
think  it  has  struck  the  golden  mean — firm  and  yet 
prudent,  courageous  without  undue  excitement,  inflex 
ible  and  yet  wise." 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

FALL  ELECTIONS   OF   1867 — SPEECH   OF   MR.   COLFAX   AT 
COOPER  INSTITUTE,  NEW  YORK. 

THE  fall  election  of  1867  in  the  State  of  Indiana  was 
of  comparatively  little  importance.  In  several  other 
States,  however,  there  were  important  elections,  the 
issues  of  which  would»largely  influence  national  inter- 


334  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

ests.  Mr.  Colfax  took  part  in  these  important  campaigns, 
making  speeches  in  several  different  States.  On  the 
evening  of  the  27th  of  October,  he  spoke  in  the  hall  of 
the  Cooper  Institute.  Of  this  speech,  Mr.  Greeley  has 
said  that  it  was  the  ablest  speech  made  in  New  York 
city  since  Lincoln's  Cooper  Institute  speech,  in  1860. 

The  large  hall  was  crowded.  The  stand  was  occupied 
by  prominent  citizens,  many  of  them  representing  dis 
tant  States.  Mr.  Charles  S.  Spencer,  Chairman  of  the 
Union  Republican  Central  Committee,  introduced  the 
speaker,  who  was  greeted  with  enthusiastic  cheering. 

SPEECH  OF  ME.  COLFAX. 

"Now,  my  friends,  three  cheers  for  what  is  better  than 
any  man — for  men  are  but  ciphers  compared  to  the  great 
principles  for  which  they  stand — three  cheers  for  that 
principle  consecrated  by  the  blood  of  our  soldiers  upon 
the  battle-field,  and  enshrined  in  the  legislation  of  the 
American  Congress — that  loyal  men  shall  rule  the  States 
that  loyal  sacrifice  has  saved.  [Immense  cheering.]  Mr. 
Chairman,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  thank  you  with  a 
grateful  heart  for  the  kind  manner  in  which  you.  have 
welcomed  me  this  evening  so  enthusiastically  to  the  stand. 
You  have  done  so,  I  trust,  to  show  that  in  your  hearts 
you  believe  that  I  have  been  faithful  to  principle.  [Ap 
plause.]  I  come  before  you  to-night,  from  my  distant 
home,  to  vindicate  and  to  defend  the  principles  and  the 
policy  of  that  noble  Union  Republican  organization, 
which  alone,  of  all  other  parties  in  this  broad  land,  from 
the  hour  that  the  first  gun  was  fired  on  Sumter  until 
the  last  rebel  sword  flashed  before  Richmond,  never 
despaired  of  the  American  Republic.  [Applause.]  Its 
past  is  crowned  with  the  glory  of  having  saved  this 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  335 

Union  from  the  menaces  of  the  sword  of  treason.  When 
I  make  this  statement  so  broadly,  I  may  be  met  by  some 
Democrat  in  this  audience  with  a  direct  denial  of  it,  but 
I  shall  prove  it  in  a  single  sentence  to  his  satisfaction,  as 
well  as  to  yours ;  and  I  ask  you  if  you  could,  by  any 
possibility,  blot  out  of  existence  from  the  winter  of  1860 
-61  the  whole  Kepublican  party,  so  that  there  should 
have  been  no  Kepublicans  in  power  in  the  Executive 
Department,  none  in  Congress,  none  at  the  polls,  and  that 
the  destinies  of  this  nation  had  been  reposed  exclusively 
in  the  hands  of  those  men  who  shouted  by  their  leaders 
all  over  the  land,  '  no  coercion,'  when  the  sword  of  trea 
son  was  drawn  to  sunder  the  Union,  where  would  the 
country  be  to-day  ?  Saved,  as  I  have  said,  by  this  noble 
Republican  organization,  by  their  fidelity  and  patriotism 
in  the  hour  of  trial.  I  know  that  the  unfaltering  hero 
ism  of  our  soldiers  on  every  battle-field  upon  the  land, 
and  our  sailors  on  every  wave-rocked  monitor  and 
frigate  upon  the  sea,  gave  to  us  our  victories,  lifting  us 
from  every  valley  of  disaster  and  reverse,  and  planting 
our  feet  upon  the  sun-crowned  heights  of  victory.  [Ap 
plause.]  But  it  was  the  action  of  the  Union  Republican 
party  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  that  placed 
that  arrnyin  the  field.  It  was  organized  by  law,  it  was 
armed  and  equipped  by  law,  it  was  fed  and  clothed  by 
law,  it  was  supplied  by  law,  re-enforced  by  law ;  and 
when  the  time  came  that  this  party  had  to  meet,  in  the 
face  of  the  defeats  of  1862,  the  odium  of  tax  laws,  that 
the  banner  might  be  kept  flying  in  the  field,  and  the  draft 
laws,  that  our  ranks  might  be  kept  full,  we  went  forward 
faithfully  and  fearlessly,  defying  all  prejudice,  and  placed 
those  laws  upon  our  statute-books,  that  through  them 
the  country  might  live,  and  not  die.  [Applause.] 


33  6  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"You  must  all  remember  that  in  the  palmy  days  of 
the  Democratic  party,  when  Democracy  meant  something 
else  beside  sympathy  with  treason  or  apologies  for  its 
leaders — they  emblazoned  upon  their  banners  and  pro 
claimed  through  the  mouths  of  their  statesmen,  '  indem 
nity  for  the  past  and  security  for  the  future.'  I  know 
right  well  we  cannot  obtain  indemnity  for  the  past,  nor 
have  we  asked  it.  You  cannot  go  down  to  those  cannon- 
furrowed  battle-fields,  and  prison-camps,  and  unmarked 
graves,  and  breathe  the  breath  of  life  into  the  bodies  of 
your  dead  soldiers  there.  You  cannot  return  to  father 
and  mother  their  first-born,  for  whom  they  sorrow  and 
will  not  be  comforted,  because  they  are  not.  You  cannot 
give  back  to  the  widow  the  husband  who  was  robbed 
from  her,  that  by  his  death  the  Republic  might  live.  You 
cannot  return  to  this  army  of  a  million  of  orphans  in  this 
land,  every  one  of  them  made  orphans  by  rebel  bullets, 
the  fathers  to  guide  their  infant  steps  in  the  paths  of 
usefulness  and  virtue.  I  know  right  well  this  cannot 
be  done.  It  is  impossible.  The  soldiers  of  the  Union 
sleep  the  sleep  that  knows  no  waking.  The  whole 
South  is  filled 'with  graves  where  sleep  those  mar 
tyrs  of  constitutional  liberty  till  the  resurrection  morn. 
On  Shiloh's  bloody  field  and  Carolina's  sandy  shore,  on 
snow-crowned  Kenesaw  and  the  rocky  hills  of  Gettys 
burg,  before  the  blood-drenched  forts  of  Richmond  and 
of  Yicksburg,  and  where  they  fell  fighting  above  the 
clouds  on  Lookout  Mountain,  they  sleep  the  warrior's 
sleep,  never,  never  again  to  fight  for  country  or  for  home. 
But  their  silent  yet  impressive  dust  speaks  to  us  that,  as 
they  gave  their  heart's  blood  and  their  lives  to  crush 
the  power  of  treason  in  this  country,  you  shall  not  by 
your  ballots  return  to  those  rebels  the  misused  power 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  337 

they  wrested  from  their  hands.     [Great  applause.]     If 
you  can  do  it,  if  you  will  do  it,  you  are  not  worthy  of 
the  millionth  part  of  the  precious  blood  that  flowed  like 
water  to  save  your  country  from  the  menacing  sword  of 
treason.     [Applause.]     But  though  we  demand  no  in-  * 
demnity  for  the  past,  no  banishment,  no  confiscations,  no 
penalties  for  the  offended  law,  there  is  one  thing  we  do 
demand,  there  is  one  thing,  thank  God !  we  have  the 
power  to  demand,  and  that  is  security  for  the  future, 
[applause,]  and  that,  God  helping  us,  we  intend  to  have, 
[hear,  hear,]  not  only  in  legislation,  but  imbedded  in  the 
imperishable   bulwarks   of   our   national   Constitution, 
against  which  the  waves  of  secession  may  dash  in  the 
future,  but  in  vain.     [Applause.]     We  intend  to  have 
those  States  reconstructed  on  suqh  enduring  corner-stones 
that  posterity  shall  realize  that  our  fallen  heroes  have 
not  died  in  vain.    Into  whose  hands  should  this  work  be 
placed  ?     In  the  hands  of  the  enemies  of  the  country  ? 
in  the  hands  of  the  men  who  laid  their  arms  around  the 
pillars  of  your  temple  of  liberty,  seeking  to  whelm  us 
with  themselves  in  a  common  ruin  ?     No,  oh,  no !     I  do 
not  know  what  voice  New  York  may  utter  in  this  im 
pending  State  struggle,  but  1  can  tell  you  for  myself  and 
the  fellow-members  who   have  formed   this   inflexible 
Eepublican  party  in  the  Fortieth  Congress,  we  intend 
to  stand  until  the  very  last  hour  of  its  existence,  [great 
applause,]  through  evil  or  through  good  report,  as  bravely 
as  when  your  soldiers  followed  the  flag  when  reverses 
had  come  upon  them,  and  followed  it  to  new  victories 
that  blotted  out  the  memories  of  those  reverses;    we 
intend  to  stand  as  firmly  as  the  eternal  hills  until  the 
fourth  of  March,  1869 — [great  applause.]     You  cut  off 
the  end  of  that  sentence  by  your  applause,  but  you  knew 


338  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

what  was  coming.  [Laughter.]  But,  as  we  have  stood 
thus  patriotically,  as  I  believe,  thus  fearlessly  and  justly 
in  the  pathway  of  right,  we  have  been  met  by  all  kinds 
of  invective  and  opprobrium.  Years  ago  they  sought 
to  overwhelm  us  with  the  epithet  of  Abolitionist,  and  they 
shouted  it  at  us  all  over  the  land,  pointing  the  finger  of 
scorn  at  us  as  Abolitionists.  We  took  the  name  which 
they  sought  to  make  one  of  reproof,  and  we  made  it  the 
synonyme  of  glory  throughout  the  Republic,  and  there 
is  not  a  man  to-day  in  the  land  who  shared  with  us  in 
the  glory  of  ridding  the  Republic  of  '  the  sum  of  all  vil- 
lanies'  whose  heart  does  not  throb  with  exultation  at  the 
thought.  Then  they  called  us  Black  Republicans.  Well, 
they  have  got  a  good  many  more  of  them  down  South 
than  they  relish  to-day  ^  [Laughter.]  Now  they  have  a 
new  epithet  for  us.  It  is  Radical.  They  think  that  will 
finish  the  chapter.  [Laughter.]  Well,  I  never  call 
them  by  that  name  which  has  almost  passed  into  political 
nomenclature — Copperhead.  I  call  them  Democrats, 
upon  the  principle  that  you  always  call  the  child  by  the 
name  its  mother  gave  it,  although  I  consider  it  rather 
inappropriate,  and  my  conscience  rather  smites  me  when 
I  do  so.  But  whenever  they  call  me  Radical,  I  answer 
that  I  would  rather  be  called  a  Radical  than  a  Rebel. 
[Laughter.]  And  I  am  a  Radical,  from  the  crown  of  my 
head  to  the  sole  of  my  feet.  [Applause.]  Radical  for 
right  and  against  the  wrong;  Radical  for  justice  and 
against  injustice;  Radical  for  liberty  and  against  slavery; 
Radical  for  loyalty  and  against  disloyalty;  a  Radical 
friend  of  every  defender  of  my  country,  and  a  Radical 
opponent  of  every  enemy  of  my  native  land.  [Applause.] 
"  But  what  is  this  policy  that  our  opponents  so  bitterly 
condemn  and  denounce  ?  Let  me  show  you  to-night  j 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  339 

let  me  prove  to  you,  as  I  shall  prove,  that  there  is  no 
party  in  this  country  that  has  so  earnestly  longed  and 
labored  for  peace  and  rest  as  this  Kepublican  party. 
We  are  anxious  to  end  this  turmoil ;  we  are  anxious  to 
have  Eeconstruction  an  accomplished  fact;  we  are 
anxious  to  welcome  back  the  old  States  around  the 
council  table  of  the  nation  ;  but  we  are  anxious  to  have 
it  done  on  right  terms,  on  just  terms,  on  terms  under 
which  every  Union  man  throughout  the  entire  South, 
from  the  Potomac  to  the  Eio  Grande,  can  stand  up  and 
say  he  loves  the  flag  and  loves  the  Union,  without  fear 
or  reproach,  or  dishonor,  or  ostracism,  and  we  will  take 
no  less.  We  are  and  have  been  ready  to  admit  them 
immediately  upon  just  terms.  Our  opponents  have  been 
in  favor  of  reconstruction  upon  no  terms  at  all.  Now, 
what  did  we  do  ?  The  very  first  Congress,  nay  more, 
the  very  first  session  of  the  very  first  Congress  that 
met  after  the  surrender  of  Lee,  that  is,  the  first  session 
of  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress,  defined  and  proposed 
its  plan  of  reconstruction.  What  was  it  ?  A  con 
stitutional  amendment,  which  has  been  explained  and 
vindicated  before  you  many  times  during  the  last 
canvass,  by  able  and  eloquent  speakers,  and  I  will  not 
take  up  your  time  now  by  repeating  their  arguments. 
It  was  a  bond  of  public  justice  and  public  safety  com 
bined,  to  be  embodied  in  our  national  Constitution,  to 
show  to  our  posterity  that  patriotism  was  a  virtue,  and 
rebellion  was  a  crime.  And  those  terms  were  more 
magnanimous  than  any  that  were  ever  offered  in  any 
country  under  like  circumstances.  You  remember  the 
first  section  of  it.  It  provided  that  every  one  born  upon 
our  soil,  or  naturalized  in  our  courts,  should  be  entitled 
to  enjoy  all  the  rights  of  citizenship — the  right  to  make 


34-O  Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax. 

contracts,  the  right  to  receive  wages,  the  right  to  testify, 
so  that  wrongs  rnay  be  redressed,  and  the  constitutional 
right  to  sue,  as  you  know  you  have  the  constitutional 
right  to  be  sued.     [Laughter.]     It  said  nothing  about 
political  rights  at  all,  but  it  simply  proposed  to  guarantee 
the  civil  rights  of  citizenship  to  every  person  born  under 
the  flag,  and  all  who  come  from,  foreign  lands  to  enjoy 
civil  and  religious  liberty  here.      The  second   section 
provided  that  every  State  should  have  representation  in 
Congress  as  those  who  shared  in  the  election  of  Kepre- 
sentatives,  no  more,  no  less.   So  that  every  voter  in  New 
York  and  Texas,  in  Indiana  and  Florida,  should  count 
just  one  in  the  scale  of  political  power,  in  making  laws 
and  in  choosing  electors  of  President.     But,  not  satisfied 
with  enjoying  power  on  three-fifths  of  their  slaves,  they 
demanded  power  on  all  of  them,  as  they  were  now  all 
free   persons,    and   thus   to   have   increased   power  on 
account  of  the   rebellion   and  its   results.     The   third 
section  provided  that  those  persons   who,  having  held 
office  under  the  Government,  or  a  State,  had  taken  an 
oath  to  maintain  the  Constitution,  and  had  added  the 
crime   of  perjury   to   that   of  treason,    should    not   be 
allowed  to  '  swear  again'  until  Congress,  by  a  two-thirds 
vote,  relieved  them  of  this  disability.     And  the  fourth 
section  -provided  that  the  National  debt  should  be  in 
violate,  that  the  Eebel  debt  should  be  repudiated,  and 
that  no  one  should  ever  be  paid  out  of  your  taxes  any 
compensation  for  the  emancipation  of  slaves.      What 
was  there  unjust — what  was  there  wrong  in  these  pro 
visions  ?    They  were  kind ;  they  were  forbearing  ;  they 
were   magnanimous;   they   were   less   than  we    had   a 
right  to  demand  ;  but  in  our  anxiety,  in  our  desire,  to 
close  up  this  question,  we  proposed  it  to  them.     How 


Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax.  341 

was  it  received  ?  It  was  scouted,  kicked  out  of  every 
Legislature  in  every  State  of  the  South  which  had  been 
reconstructed  under  the  unwise  policy  of  Andrew  John 
son.  In  all  the  Legislatures  of  the  South  you  could 
not  find  six  men  that  voted  for  this  constitutional  amend 
ment  ;  in  some  States  one,  in  some  States  none  at  all. 
They  trampled  upon  it ;  they  spat  upon  it ;  they  repu 
diated  it,  and  said  they  would  have  nothing  to  do  with 
it.  Do  you  know  why  it  was?  Because  they  deter 
mined  to  have  more  power  after  the  rebellion  than  they 
had  before.  Before,  they  demanded  that  they  should 
have  power  for  three-fifths  of  their  slaves,  and  not  allow 
them  to  vote ;  now,  they  wanted  power  for  their  emanci 
pated  slaves.  [Cries  of  '  Never  1  never !']  Then,  when 
this  was  repudiated  we  came  together  again  at  the 
second  session  of  the  same  Congress  to  devise  some 
other  plan  of  reconstruction  in  place  of  the  proffer  that 
had  been  spurned.  Now,  when  we  came  to  this  point 
we  found  we  had  four  ways  before  us.  We  could,  in 
the  first  place,  have  provided  by  law  that  voting  should 
be  confined  solely  to  the  loyal  whites  of  the  South,  but 
this  would  have  excluded  nine-tenths  of  the  white 
population  that  had  been  swept  into  the  maelstrom  of 
treason.  This  was  the  basis  on  which  Lincoln  proposed 
to  reconstruct  the  South  when  he  said  that  he  was  in 
favor  of  the  readmission  of  any  State  whereof  one- tenth 
of  the  people  were  loyal.  But  the  Democrats  had  de 
nounced  this,  because  it  would  be  placing  the  power  in 
the  hands  of  a  minority,  and  it  was  thus  condemned  in 
advance.  Then  again  we  could  have  reconstructed  upon 
the  basis  of  all  the  loyal  freemen  in  these  States,  and 
the  loyal  alone.  What  would  have  been  the  result  of 

that  plan  ?     It  would  have  made  the  States  a  great  deal 
21 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax. 

blacker  than  they  are.  For,  though  these  blacks  have 
been  sold,  under  the  flag,  like  the  swine  of  the  sty, 
or  the  beasts  of  the  field,  their  families  torn  from  them, 
never  again  to  meet  until  at  the  judgment  bar  of  the 
Almighty,  if  you  have  here  a  Democratic  soldier,  a  man 
who  has  been  South  with  Sherman  to  the  sea,  he  will 
tell  you  that  when  he  saw  a  black  face  he  saw  a  friend ; 
and  there  was  not  a  man  fleeing  from  the  horrors  of 
Andersonville,  the  groans  of  which  echoed  around  the 
civilized  world,  and  filled  it  with  horror,  who,  if  he  saw 
a  white  man  on  the  road,  did  not  hide  in  the  swamp, 
but,  if  he  saw  a  black  man,  boldly  went  to  him,  and 
found  that  he  would  share  with  him  his  humble  cabin, 
divide  with  him  his  crust,  and  even  at  the  risk  of  being 
hung  for  it  by  his  master,  point  out  to  him  the  right 
road  to  the  camp  where  the  Stars  and  Stripes  would 
insure  his  security.  The  third  plan  was  Mr.  Johnson's 
giving  the  power  to  the  rebel  element  in  the  South, 
which  I  need  not  discuss.  There  was  a  fourth  plan  we 
could  have  adopted.  That  I  come  before  you  to  vindi 
cate  and  defend.  We  made  the  basis  of  our  reconstruc 
tion,  first,  every  loyal  man  in  the  South,  and  then  (and 
I  am  going  to  state  this  pretty  sharply  to  you,  too)  we 
gave  the  ballot  also  to  every  man  who  had  only  been  a 
rebel.  The  persons  we  excluded  for  the  present  from 
the  suffrage  in  the  South  were  not  the  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  men  who  fought  in  the  rebel  army,  not 
the  millions  of  men  who  had  given  their  adhesion  to  it, 
but  only  those  men  who  had  sworn  allegiance  to  the 
Constitution  and  then  added  to  treason  the  crime  of 
perjury.  I  shall  prove  this  to  you  from  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States.  I  have  it  here — not  one  of  the 
copies  that  our  distinguished  President,  Andrew  John- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  343 

son,  left  when  he  was  swinging  around  the  circle. 
[Laughter.]  I  would  not  risk  his  copy,  because  he  reads 
his,  apparently,  with  rebel  spectacles.  [Here  he  quoted 
from  the  second  article  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.]  Those  are  all  the  persons  that  we  excluded  in 
the  military  bills.  It  is  true,  in  Virginia  for  instance, 
they  had,  in  defiance  of  that  law,  which  is  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land,  allowed  some  of  their  officers  to  hold 
office  without  swearing  to  support  the  Constitution. 
We  excluded  only  those  persons  named  in  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States  as  being  required  to  take 
an  oath  to  support  it.  Well,  they  said  they  would  not 
register  at  all,  and  that  if  they  did  register  they  would 
vote  against  the  convention.  Now,  I  say  they  can  do 
just  exactly  as  they  please.  [Applause.]  The  door  was 
opened  to  them  by  Congress.  We  said  to  those  men 
who  had  only  been  rebels,  and  who  had  not  been  per 
jured  also,  'You  may  share  in  this  work  of  reconstruc 
tion  if  you  see  fit.  If  you  see  fit  to  register,  do  so.J 
Upon  them  rests  the  responsibility,  not  upon  us.  I  will 
tell  you  the  result.  In  1862  there  was  a  succession  of 
Democratic  victories,  and  you  will  remember  that  they 
inspired  with  hope  these  rebels  in  the  South.  They 
prolonged  the  conflict,  but  the  terms  they  obtained  in 
1865  were  not  so  good  as  they  could  have  obtained  in 
1862.  They  leaned  upon  those  Democratic  victories  of 
1862,  which  were  their  hope  all  through  from  the  time  they 
drew  the  sword.  Now  when  they  see  these  apparent  Demo 
cratic  victories  of  this  year,  they  are  encouraged  again, 
and  I  think  they  may  vote  down  reconstruction  in  three 
States — Alabama,  Arkansas,  and  Texas,  and  when  they 
do  it,  we  shall,  as  Providence  perhaps  intended,  at  the 
Presidential  election  have  the  sharp,  direct  issue  before 


344  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

the  people  of  the  country,  '  Will  you  have  rebel  govern 
ments  in  these  States,  or  will  you  have  governments 
resting  upon  the  great  mass  of  the  people?'  and  I  arn 
not  afraid  of  the  decision.  [Applause.] 

"One  thing  we  have  determined  upon,  one  thing  we 
shall  stand  inflexibly  for,  and  that  is  that  these  States 
shall  return  to  the  old  council-board  of  the  Republic, 
that  they  made  such  haste  to  leave  six  years  ago,  led  by 
the  faithful  Union  men  who  refused  to  bow  the  knee  to 
Baal  during  all  that  conflict.  [Applause.]  There  were 
some  men  there,  faithful  men,  fearless  men,  when  the 
storm  swept  over  that  land,  and  when  the  assemblage  at 
Richmond,  calling  itself  the  Confederate  Congress,  passed 
laws  declaring  that  any  man  who  would  not  swear  alle 
giance  to  the  flag  and  the  Constitution  of  the  Confeder 
acy,  should  be  regarded  as  a  traitor,  and  punished  with 
imprisonment  and  confiscation.  "When  prisons  yawned 
for  them,  and  when  they  saw  their  comrades  hung  by 
the  neck  until  they  were  dead,  they  said :  '  Welcome 
confiscation,  welcome  imprisonment,  welcome  death,  but 
we  stand  by  the  Stars  and  Stripes  to  the  last  drop  of  our 
blood  and  the  last  beat  of  our  hearts.'  God  bless  those 
faithful  Southern  men.  They  come  up  out  of  the  fur 
nace  of  treason  with  none  of  its  fires  upon  their  gar 
ments.  They  were  true  among  the  false;  they  were 
patriots  among  traitors;  they  were  loyal  among  the 
disloyal.  If  I  ever  surrender  them — if  I  should  ever^ 
in  any  infatuation  that  would  be  insanity — as  a  repre 
sentative  in  the  American  Congress,  deliver  them  to 
the  power  of  the  men  who  would  wreak  the  vengeance 
on  them  they  failed  to  wreak  on  this  country,  may  my 
tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth,  and  my  hand 
fall  nerveless  at  my  side.  [Applause.]  If  you  are  will- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  345 

ing  to  yield  them  up  because  they  would  not  sell  their 
priceless  birthright  and  surrender  their  allegiance,  then 
throughout  all  Time  the  finger  of  scorn  of  the  whole 
World  should  be  pointed  at  you.     But  I  know  you  will 
not  do  it.    We  are  sometimes  told  by  these  men  as  they 
go  up  and  down  the  highways  and  by-ways  of  the  coun 
try,  pleading,  as  they  did,  for  the  rebel  cause  during 
the  war,  that  we  must  have  larger  and  more  forgiving 
hearts.     We  have  had  the  story  of  the  prodigal  son  re 
cited  to  us  in  the  West,  and  we  are  told  that  we  ought 
to  follow  that  example.     Well,  I  learned  the  parable  at 
my  mother's  knee,  and  I  believe  in  the  lesson  it  teaches. 
But  if  the  prodigal  son  had  striven  to  murder  his  father 
and  brother,  and  on  leaving  it  had  set  fire  to  the  roof 
that  had  sheltered  and  protected  him— if  after  all  this  he 
had  returned  to  the  door-sill  and  insolently  said :  '  Give 
me  back  my  rights,  restore  me  again  to  my  portion  of 
the   inheritance   without   condition,   absolutely  and   at 
once,   I  do  not   believe   that  there  would   have  been 
much  veal  eaten  in  that  household  that  night.     [Long 
continued  applause  and  laughter.]     I  think   that  calf 
would  have  lived  to  this  very  day.     [Applause.]     But 
the  prodigal  son  came  back  humbled ;    he  came  back 
asking  forgiveness,  and  the  heart  of  the  father  warmed 
toward  him.     He  went  out  and  met  him  and  embraced 
him  ;  he  placed  the  ring  upon  his  finger,  and  the  fatted 
calf  was  killed.    Did  they  come  back  in  this  way  ?    Did 
a  single  rebel  army  ever  surrender  voluntarily  ?     Did 
a  single  rebel  State  ever  come  back  voluntarily  ?     Did 
a  single  rebel  statesman  return  to  our  council-halls  and 
acknowledge  his  error  and  his  crime  ?     Not  one.    They 
kept  on  fighting,  month  after  month,  and  year  after  year, 
putting  more  armies  in  the  field,  and  filling  the  land 


346  Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax. 

with  bloodshed,  carnage,  and  desolation,  until  they  re 
deemed  the  pledge  that  they  made  at  the  outset,  that 
they  would  fight  on  to  the  very  last  ditch.  And  so  they 
did.  They  fought  until  they  had  no  more  men,  and  no 
more  money,  and  no  more  resources,  and  then  the  gallant 
soldiers  under  Sheridan,  Grant,  and  Thomas  [cheers] — 
I  ought  to  have  named  General  Grant  first  [cheers  and 
laughter,]  because  of  all  the  men  to  whom  we  owe  credit 
for  the  salvation  of  our  land,  there  is  none  that  is  his 
equal  or  his  superior.  [Loud  cheers.]  He  combined 
the  inflexible  pertinacity  of  Wellington  with  the  brilliant 
dash  of  Napoleon ;  and  it  can  be  said  of  him,  as  of  one 
in  our  olden  time,  that  his  modesty  is  only  equalled  by 
his  merit.  [Thunders  of  applause.]  But  the  gallant 
soldiers  following  these  brave  chieftains  tumbled  them 
into  the  last  ditch,  tore  their  weapons  from  their  hands, 
and  compelled  them  to  surrender:  no  thanks  to  them 
for  what  they  could  not  prevent.  [Cheers.]  I  can  for 
give  when  these  men  appeal  to  me  with  their  cries  of 
forgiveness.  I  say  that  my  heart  is  large  enough  to 
forgive  these  men,  whose  crime  I  have  described — these 
men  who  have  murdered  my  constituents  and  my  own 
friends  on  the  battle-fields — these  men  whose  hands  and 
skirts  are  still  red  with  the  blood  of  the  faithful  soldiers 
of  the  Union.  But  there  is  one  thing  I  will  not  do; 
there  is  one  thing  before  God,  I  say  it  reverently,  I  can 
not,  and  dare  not  do,  and  that  is  to  put  the  dagger  of 
power  back  again  into  their  hands,  with  which  they  can 
strike  once  more,  as  they  struck  for  four  years,  at  my 
nation's  heart  and  my  nation's  life.  Never,  no,  never ! 
[Cheers.]  I  want  to  see  some  return  of  love  for  the 
Union  first ;  I  want  to  see  some  affection  for  the  old 
flag ;  I  want  to  see  some  sorrow  for  crime.  Nay,  more ; 


Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax.  347 

let  me  imagine,  if  possible,  that  by  some  delusion  the 
people  of  the  United  States  should  apparently  consent 
to  abandon  Congress,  which  dared  to  stand  between 
those  men  and  the  inner  sanctuary  of  the  nation's  life, 
they  sought  to  enter  with  unrepentant  love  for  their 
'lost  cause.'  When  they  came  up  and  demanded  the 
right  to  make  laws  for  the  men  they  had  failed  to  kill 
and  for  the  widows  and  orphans  of  the  men  they  had 
slain  on  hundreds  of  fields  of  battle — and  for  refusing 
which  we  have  been  denounced — what  would  have  been 
the  result  had  we  consented?  Let  us  look  at  it.  What 
would  have  been  the  result  in  eleven  States  of  the  South  ? 
Look  at  Kentucky,  as  the  model  after  which  they  would 
be  fashioned,  where  devotion  to  the  Confederacy  is  the 
sure  passport  to  official  position ;  where  to  have  been 
loyal  to  the  Union  is  to  be  covered  with  reproach,  and 
exposed  to  outrage  by  mobs  and  by  regulators.  You 
would  have  had  eleven  States  where  Rebels  would  hold 
the  supreme  power.  And  that  is  not  the  worst.  You 
would  have  had  freedmen  virtually  re-enslaved  by  their 
revived  labor  and  vagrant  laws.  And  that  is  not  the 
worst,  disgraceful  as  that  would  have  been  to  the  nation. 
You  would  have  had  every  loyal  white  man  in  fear  of 
his  life.  And  that  is  not  the  worst,  bad  as  that  would  be. 
If  England  or  France,  or  the  allied  powers  of  Europe 
should  for  any  cause  declare  war  against  us,  to  blot  us 
out  as  a  nation  from  the  map  of  the  world,  and  should 
send  their  fleets  and  their  armies  here,  the  power  of  those 
eleven  States  could  be  given  to  help  our  enemies,  for 
they  could  seize  the  golden  opportunity  to  establish 
their  Confederacy  with  the  aid  they  could  thus  command 
from  abroad.  That  would  have  been  the  result.  But  it 
is  not  to  be.  [c  No !  no !']  It  is  not  to  be,  because  the 


348  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

people  of  this  country  are  going  to  stand  by  the  doc 
trines  that  we  have  maintained. 

"  Before  discussing  the  acts  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  I  wish  to  say  something  about  these  elec 
tions.  Our  opponents  have  been  firing  some  cannon 
lately.  They  haven't  had  any  thing  to  fire  cannon  over 
for  several  years.  They  didn't  fire  any  over  Gettys 
burg  ;  they  didn't  fire  any  over  Yicksburg.  I  believe 
your  Hay  or  didn't  think  it  was  wise  even  to  illuminate 
over  Union  victories.  It  might  stir  up  some  '  unpleasant 
ness.'  Some  people  didn't  see  so  much  in  those  vic 
tories  to  rejoice  over.  They  didn't  fire  cannon  over 
the  downfall  of  the  rebellion ;  but  they  found  occasion 
at  last  to  rejoice  in  their  way.  They  didn't  fire  them 
over  our  victories  in  Indiana,  because  in  the  part  of  that 
State  where  I  live  we  increased  our  Republican  majori 
ties.  [Applause.]  They  fired  their  cannon  very  hastily, 
and  after  they  had  paid  the  expenses  of  the  powder,  they 
looked  around  to  see  what  they  had  been  firing  over, 
and  to  count  the  profit  and  loss ;  and  they  found  they 
had  been  firing  over  the  election  of  a  Republican  Legis 
lature  in  Pennsylvania.  [  Cheers.]  They  found  they  had 
been  firing  over  the  fact  that  in  the  only  Congressional 
district  of  Pennsylvania  where  a  Congressman  was  to  be 
elected  they  had  lost  one  thousand  five  hundred  of  their 
majority  of  last  year.  [Cheers.]  They  found  that  they 
had  fired  over  the  election  of  a  Republican  State  ticket 
in  the  State  of  Ohio.  They  fired  over  the  election  of 
a  Republican  Governor  in  Iowa  by  twelve  thousand  in 
creased  majority  over  that  received  by  his  predecessor — 
the  last  Governor  elected  having  had  sixteen  thousand 
majority,  and  the  Governor  now  elected  having  twenty- 
eight  thousand  majority.  [Cheers.]  But  I  will  tell 


Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax.  349 

you  what  they  did  really  fire  over.     It  is  this :  That  a 
majority  of  the  people  of  Ohio  had,  by  an  apportion 
ment  made  by  Democrats,    elected    a   majority  of  the 
Legislature  of  that  State.     Bather  poor  results  to  fire 
over,  wasn't  it  ?     Well,  I  have  often  thought  that  it  was 
not  wise  for  an  army,  more  than  a  party,  to  have  a  con 
stant  succession  of  victories.     If  they  did,  they  might 
draw  in  their  outposts,  withdraw  their  pickets,  quarrel 
among  themselves,  and  incur  the  danger  and  the  defeat 
of  a  surprise  by  the  enemy.     It  is  wise  once  in  a  while 
to  have  a  little  discipline  like  this.     It  has  the  effect  to 
show  us  the  dangers  that  threaten  us,  and  to  compact  us 
into  an  irresistible  mass.     The  victories  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party  in  1862,  when  they  carried  this  country  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Mississippi,  after  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation  was  issued,  when  they  carried  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  by 
a  majority  of  65,000  votes,  with  two-thirds  of  all  their 
Congressmen  elected,  caused  them  to  shout  with  joy, 
and  say,  'Emancipation  is  dead  and  buried!'     Oh,  no! 
This  Republican  party,  in  spite  of  this  reverse,  stood  by 
it  faithfully,  fearlessly,  because  it  was  right ;  and  in  1864 
Emancipation  triumphed ;  and  the  Emancipator  himself 
was  reflected  by  an  overwhelming  majority.     [Cheers.] 
I  have  never  turned  aside  to  contemplate  which  was  the 
popular,  or  which  was  the  unpopular  side  of  a  ques 
tion.     I  would  rather  follow  in  that  path  indicated  to  us 
by  John  Bright,  the  great  Commoner  of  England — [ap 
plause] — who  declares  that  there  is  one  single  and  sub 
lime  principle  on  which  all   great   national   questions 
should   be   settled,   that  is,  the  basis  of  eternal   right. 
[Hear,  hear,  and  applause.]     And  in  close  conformity  to 
that   was   the   remark    to    us  of  the  noble   liberal  M. 


350  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

Gasparin,  of  France,  when  he  said,  at  the  opening  of  our 
Avar  for  the  Union,  *  It  does  not  depend  on  you  to  suc 
ceed,  but  above  all,  to  be  right;  do  what  you  ought.' 
[Applause.]  And  again,  in  this  very  hall,  our  noble  and 
martyred  chief,  in  February,  1860,  in  that  noble,  con 
vincing,  unanswerable  speech,  which  stands  high  among 
the  records  of  his  most  eloquent  efforts,  closed,  as  many 
of  you  may  recollect,  with  that  peroration  which  none 
can  forget,  and  which  comes  to  us  to-night  with  renewed 
force  from  his  grave.  'Let  us  have  faith  that  Eight 
•  makes  Might,  and  in  that  faith  let  us,  to  the  end,  dare  to 
stand  by  the  Right.'  [Great  applause.]  The  President 
has  denounced  Congress  (and  in  this  he  is  copied  by  his 
Democratic  followers)  as  guilty  of  usurpation.  There  is 
a  phrase  which  our  enemies  have  applied  to  us  that  I 
dislike  to  name  in  this  presence ;  but  it  is  the  chief  gem 
of  Democratic  literature  in  this  contest,  and,  therefore,  I 
must  refer  to  it.  This  Congress  is  called  a  '  Eump  Con 
gress.7  I  have  this  to  say  in  response — that  if  we  have 
a  Rump  Congress  because  these  rebels  are  not  allowed 
to  legislate  for  the  land  which  they  sought  to  destroy,  we 
have  got  a  Rump  President,  too — elected  by  the  same 
voters,  by  the  same  States,  by  the  same  people,  precisely, 
that  elected  this  Congress.  And  what  is  more,  when  he 
swung  around  the  circle,  talking  about  this  Congress 
being  an  illegal  body,  '  hanging,'  he  said,  *  as  it  were,  on 
the  verge  of  the  Government,'  I  have  this  to  reply,  that 
if  this  Congress  is  an  illegal  body,  then  he  has  himself 
taken  money  illegally  from  the  Treasury.  The  Consti 
tution  which  he  has  sworn  to  support  declares  that  no 
money  shall  be  taken  from  the  Treasury  except  on  ap 
propriation  by  law.  This  Congress  has  voted  him,  for 
the  last  two  years,  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  as  Presi- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  351 

dent  of  the  United  States,  and  every  month  he  has  gone 
to  the  door  of  your  Treasury  and  drawn  his  monthly 
salary,  by  virtue  of  this  law  passed  by  this  Congress. 
And  if  this  is  not  a  legal  Congress,  he  has  wrongfully 
taken  that  money  from  the  Treasury,  and  should  be 
compelled  to  refund  it.  [Applause  and  laughter.]  In 
stead  of  this  Congress  being  guilty  of  usurpation,  I  shall 
prove  to  you,  on  the  contrary,  that  for  two  years  it  has 
been  warring  against  usurpations — usurpations  by  the 
Executive  ;  usurpations  without  law  ;  usurpations  auto 
cratic  in  their  character.  Some  of  these  are  familiar  to 
you  already,  but  I  feel  the  necessity  of  referring  to  them 
in  detail. 

"  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  divided  our 
Government  into  three  branches — the  Legislative  De 
partment,  composed  of  the  Senate  and  the  House  of 
Representatives ;  the  Executive  Department,  the  Presi 
dent  ;  and  the  Judicial  Department,  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  United  States  Courts  of 
inferior  jurisdiction.  The  Legislative  Department  is  so 
called  because  it  is  the  law-making  branch  ;  it  makes  the 
laws.  Why  is  the  President  called  the  Executive? 
Because  he  executes  the  laws ;  because  he,  unlike  those 
of  the  other  departments,  is  specially  sworn  to  execute 
the  la^ws.  That  is  his  peculiar  and  specific  duty.  I  call 
him  the  President  of  the  United  States.  I  do  not  use 
the  term  that  others  have  done,  '  acting  President ;'  be 
cause  I  regard  him  as  entitled,  by  his  succession  to 
Mr.  Lincoln,  to  the  prerogatives  and  to  the  privileges  of 
the  Executive  Department  of  the  Government.  But 
there  is  one  thing  I  do  rejoice  at  in  my  heart  of  hearts — 
that,  deluded  as  we  were  in  1864,  by  his  pledges  made 
to  us,  by  his  declarations  in  favor  of  the  Union  cause, 


352  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax, 

so  radical  as  we  deemed  him,  we  never  elected  him 
President  of  the  United  States.  We  elected  him  Vice- 
President,  to  preside  over  the  Senate,  and  give  the  cast 
ing  vote  when  it  should  be  required.  There  was  one 
man,  and  only  one,  that  made  him  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  that  man's  name  was  Wilkes  Booth. 
"When  the  bullet  of  the  assassin  crashed  through  the 
noble  and  generous  brain  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  there 
was  no  one  who  clapped  his  hands  for  joy  at  that  foul 
murder,  that  does  not  now  clap  his  hands  with  joy  over 
the  policy  of  the  man  whom  Wilkes  Booth's  act  elevated 
from  the  Yice-Presidency  to  the  position  of  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States.  Nor  is  that  all.  The  last 
wish  of  that  miserable  assassin,  who  sleeps  in  his  dis 
honored  grave,  when  he  murdered  your  President,  was 
to  have  a  man  in  the  Presidential  chair  over  whose 
every  act  rebels  should  rejoice  with  exceeding  joy.  He 
has  passed  away ;  but  if  he  could  come  back  from  the 
silence  of  the  grave,  and  look  upon  this  country,  he 
would  send  up  his  pseans  of  joy  that  his  dying  wish  had 
been  fulfilled.  I  told  you  I  intended  to  speak  to  you 
in  regard  to  the  usurpations  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  When  he  became  President,  after  the 
surrender  of  the  armies  of  the  rebellion,  he  immediately 
commenced  the  work  of  reconstruction  without  consulta 
tion  with  Congress.  They  could  not  meet  except  by  his 
call.  He  refused  to  issue  it,  concluding  to  go  on  with 
the  work  without  the  authority  of  law.  We  looked  on, 
anxiously  waiting  for  the  fruits  of  the  work.  It  was 
called  at  the  time  '  an  experiment.'  He  was  going  to 
see  what  would  be  the  result  of  it;  and  it  was  finally  to 
be  submitted  to  Congress  for  ratification.  His  Secre 
tary  of  State  declared  this  explicitly  to  Governor  Marvin, 


Life  of  Sthuyler  Coif  ax.  353 

of  Florida,  and  Governor  Sharkey,  of  Mississippi ;  and 
when  Congress  assembled,  Mr.  Johnson  presented  us  with 
the  results  of  his  policy.  And  what  were  they  ?  In 
nearly  every  State  that  had  been  reconstructed  under 
his  policy,  a  Governor  had  been  elected  who  had  either 
been  in  the  armies  of  treason  or  in  the  councils  of  treason 
— but  one  solitary  exception.  In  every  State  recon 
structed  by  Mr.  Johnson,  in  the  legislative  department 
the  rebels  had  supreme  and  unlimited  power.  In  the 
judicial  department  it  was  the  same.  They  were  tri 
umphant  in  every  branch  of  every  department  of  all  but 
one  of  the  rebel  States  reconstructed  by  Mr.  Johnson. 
The  Union  men  were  ruled  by  a  rod  of  iron,  and  the 
freedmenwere  governed  bylaws  merciless  in  their  char 
acter,  and  intended  to  remit  those  emancipated  slaves  to 
a  condition  that  would  be  worse  than  that  from  which 
they  had,  by  the  will  of  the  nation,  just  escaped.  Mr. 
Johnson  showed  us  his  policy,  and  said  to  the  American 
Congress,  '  These  are  my  jewels.'  We  looked  at  them. 
We  did  not  dare,  before  the  country  and  before  the  civ 
ilized  world,  to  say,  'Yea,  and  arnen'  to  it.  How  could 
we?  And  because  we  did  not,  he  has  warred  on  us 
ever  since,  and  the  highest  ambition  of  his  heart  now  is 
to  destroy  the  party  which  elevated  him  from  the  mili 
tary  Governorship  of  Tennessee  to  the  Yice-Presidency 
of  the  Union.  He  talk  about  our  usurpation !  Usurpa 
tion  !  He  said  we  put  those  States  under  military  rule ! 
So  did  the  President.  He  said  we  required  conventions 
to  be  called.  So  did  the  President.  He  said  we  re-, 
quired  them  to  submit  their  Constitutions  to  the  people 
for  ratification.  So  did  not  the  President.  He  said  we 
established  a  test-vote  for  suffrage.  So  did  the  Presi 
dent.  He  said  we  demanded  the  ratification  of  a  Con- 


354  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

stitutional  amendment.  So  did  the  President — he  doing 
it  without  law ;  we  doing  it  by  law — he  having  no  power 
to  make  a  law ;  we  having  by  the  Constitution  the  power 
to  make  laws.  Yet  he  calls  us  usurpers  1  That  is  not 
all.  When  he  came  to  appoint  officers  in  the  Southern 
States,  whom  did  he  select  ?  Did  he  take  the  faithful 
Union  men,  who  dared  to  stand  fast  against  enormous  odds 
by  the  banner  of  their  country  ?  Oh,  no  1  "When  he  came 
to  appoint  officers,  revenue  officers,  custom-house  officers, 
surveyors,  etc.,  nearly  every  one  of  them  was  taken  from 
the  traitors  of  the  South,  and  not  from  the  Union  men. 
And  those  men,  thus  clothed  with  power  by  your  Presi 
dent,  turned  around  to  these  Union  men  in  the  South, 
and  said  to  them,  '  You  thought,  when  the  old  flag  came 
back  in  triumph,  you  were  going  to  hold  positions  of 
trust  over  us.  The  Government  at  Washington  know 
better  than  that.  They  know  you  haven't  any  influence. 
They  want  the  men  who  dared  to  defy  the  nation,  and  to 
wage  war  that  cost  the  blood  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  your  Yankee  soldiers.  You  take  back-seats ;  and  if 
we  allow  you  to  remain  here,  you  may  thank  us  for  the 
permission.'  That  was  the  result  of  his  policy.  But 
these  officers  could  not  take  the  test-oath.  We  passed 
a  law  in  1862  that  no  man  could  hold  an  appointed  or 
elective  office  under  the  Government  unless  he  could 
take  an  oath  that  he  had  not  voluntarily  participated  in 
rebellion ;  and  we  put  in,  furthermore,  this  section :  '  That 
no  officer  should  draw  money  out  of  the  Treasury  until 
he  filed  this  oath.'  So,  when  these  men  had  served,  they 
came  to  the  door  of  the  Treasury,  and  said,  '  We  want 
our  pay,  but  we  cannot  take  the  oath.'  They  went  to 
Johnson,  and  through  his  cabinet  official  he  said,  '  These 
men  held  office,  but  they  cannot  draw  their  pay;'  and  wo 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  355 

said  to  him, .'Not  one  farthing  of  the  people's  money 
shall  go  into  the  pockets  of  these  men.'  ['  Good  !'  Ap 
plause.]  And  because  we  said  that,  he  has  been  war 
ring  upon  us  ever  since,  denouncing  us.  ['Turn  him 
out.']  Sometimes  those  who  defend  him  say  he  is  carry 
ing  out  Mr.  Lincoln's  policy.  Look  at  the  States  Mr. 
Lincoln  attempted  to  reconstruct  during  the  rebellion — 
Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Tennessee,  and  West  Virginia, 
carved  out  of  old  Virginia.  He  placed  them  all  in  the 
hands  of  loyal  men.  Look  at  the  States  'reconstructed' 
by  Mr.  Johnson — all  but  one  of  them  put  into  the  hands 
of  rebels — the  difference  between  the  brilliant  light  of 
the  sun  at  noon-day  and  the  darkness  of  midnight.  Mr. 
Lincoln  never  made  Johnson  Governor  of  Tennessee 
until  he  first  made  him  a  Brigadier  in  the  army  of  the 
United  States,  confirmed  by  the  Senate.  As  the  Corn- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  army  he  had  then  the  right  to 
detail  him  for  this  duty.  Johnson  could  have  detailed 
any  soldier  to  that  duty,  from  a  private  to  a  general, 
under  military  law;  but  he  had  no  more  power  to  ap 
point  to  a  civil  office  not  created  by  law  than  any  man 
or  woman  before  me  to-night.  On  the  2d  of  April, 
1866,  President  Johnson  issued  his  proclamation  de 
claring  peace  established.  He  had  a  number  of  where- 
ases :  he  put  them  all  in  this — six  or  eight  of  them.  I 
need  not  read  them;  he  recites  the  various  proclama 
tions  by  which  these  States  were  declared  in  rebellion, 
and  then  goes  on  and  says : 

"'And  whereas  the  laws  can  be  sustained  and  en 
forced  therein  by  proper  civil  authority,  State  or  Fed 
eral,  and  the  people  of  said  States  are  well  and  loyally 
disposed.' 


35^  Life   of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"  No  doubt  tliej  were  '  well  and  loyally  disposed.'  You 
have  seen  it  when  five  hundred  negroes  in  the  South  were 
wantonly  killed  since  we  made  them  free.  You  have 
seen  it  in  the  outrages  upon  white  men  because  they 
were  Union  men.  You  see  his  policy  and  its  results, 
which  culminated  at  Memphis  and  New  Orleans  in  the 
murder  of  white  men,  whose  crime  was  that  they  sought 
to  reconstruct  on  a  loyal  basis.  He  then  adds,  *  Whereas 
standing  armies,  military  occupation,  martial  law,  mili 
tary  tribunals,  etc.,  are  in  times  of  peace  dangerous,  etc.' 
Every  one  knows  that  but  for  the  army  no  Union  man 
in  the  South  was  safe.  He  then  goes  on  and  says  that 
peace  is  established.  The  Constitution  says  Congress 
shall  have  power  to  declare  wa»,  etc.  The  power  to 
declare  war  carries  with  it  the  power  to  make  peace. 
Your  fathers  knew,  if  there  was  to  be  war,  the  people 
who  were  to  lay  down  their  lives  had  the  right  to  say 
when  war  should  be  declared  and  when  it  should  be 
stopped.  His  proclamation  was  not  worth  the  paper  on 
which  it  was  written.  In  July,  1862,  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  passed  a  law  authorizing  the  Presi 
dent  to  issue  an  Amnesty  Proclamation,  on  such  terms 
as  he  might  see  fit,  for  the  purpose  of  ending  the  war. 
Mr.  Lincoln  issued  one,  basing  it  on  this  law,  and  it  was 
spurned  by  the  rebels.  In  January,  1867,  not  having 
as  much  faith  in  Mr.  Johnson  as  we  had  had  in  Mr. 
Lincoln,  knowing  that  he  was  pardoning  rebels  with  the 
very  same  hand  he  was  striking  down  Eepublicans,  we 
repealed  the  act  we  had  passed.  Then,  as  if  to  defy  the 
law,  he  issued  this  'amnesty'  proclamation  for  the  par 
don  of  rebels.  A  pardon  which  the  President  has  the 
Constitutional  power  to  grant  is  no  more  like  an  amnesty 
than  a  marriage  license  is  like  a  statute.  A  license 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  357 

affects  only  the  parties  procuring  it,  and  they  use  it  if 
they  please,  as  a  person  accepts  or  rejects  a  proffered 
pardon.  A  statute  affects  the  whole  community.  He 
knew  he  had  no  power  to  issue  it.  Even  Mr.  Black, 
who  is  so  constantly  at  his  ear,  is  reported  to  have  told 
him  he  had  no  power  to  issue  it.  I  suppose  he  found 
out  last  year  that  we  didn't  want  him  for  President ;  so 
perhaps  he  thought  we  would  have  him  for  King. 
[Laughter.]  Therefore,  he  issued  this  amnesty  procla 
mation,  with  a  number  of  'whereases;'  that  the  laws 
are  now  enforced  in  the  States  that  were  in  insur 
rection,  and  the  people  of  the  said  States  are  well 
and  loyally  disposed ;  that  large  standing  armies 
and  military  governments  are  incompatible  with  the 
rights  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution  ;  that  a  retaliatory 
and  vindictive  policy,  inflicting  pains  and  penalties, 
confiscation  and  disenfranchisement,  now  as  always,  can 
only  tend  to  hinder  reconciliation  ;  therefore  he  declared 
a  general  amnesty,  excepting  only  some  two  or  three 
hundred  persons,  with  restoration  of  all  their  privileges, 
immunities,  and  rights  of  property,  except  as  to  property 
with  regard  to  slaves.  I  say  that  that  amnesty  procla 
mation  was  thrown  intentionally  by  him  into  the  very 
teeth  of  the  people  and  Congress,  to  show  us  how  he  defied 
us,  and  how  little  he  remembers  or  regards  his  official 
oath.  The  preamble  of  the  original  military  bill — 
and  the  same  doctrine  is  embodied  in  the  two  supple 
mental  bills — states  that  whereas  no  legal  State  govern 
ments  or  adequate  protection  of  life  or  property  now 
exist  in  the  rebel  States  of  Virginia,  etc.,  and  whereas  it 
is  necessary  that  peace  and  good  order  should  be  en 
forced  in  said  States,  and  loyal  and  republican  State 

governments  be  legally  established,  therefore,  it  is  pro- 
22 


358  Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax. 

vided  that  there  shall  be  five  military  districts,  and  that 
those  persons  who  have  been  perjured  as  officers  of  the 
State  or  the  General  Government,  as  well  as  traitors, 
should  not  now  be  voters,  but  should  occupy  back-seats. 
This  bill  declares  that  no  legal  governments  exist  there, 
and  this  declaration  is  subsequently  repeated  in  the 
supplemental  bills.  But  Mr.  Johnson's  amnesty  procla 
mation  declares  expressly  that  they  have  civil  govern 
ments  there.  Although  in  that  bill  we  demand  the 
disfranchisement  for  the  present  of  certain  classes  of 
rebels,  yet  in  the  very  teeth  of  that  law  he  hurls  defiance 
at  that  provision.  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  his 
oath.  After  Congress  has  passed  a  law,  no  President 
has  a  right  to  any  *  policy,'  except  to  carry  out  the  law. 
His  oath  is  prescribed  in  the  fifth  section  of  the  second 
article  of  the  Constitution.  It  gives  to  Congress  the 
power  to  make  all  laws  necessary  and  proper  to  carry 
into  execution  all  the  powers  vested  by  the  Constitution 
in  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  or  any  depart 
ment  or  officer  thereof.  There  cannot  be  a  department 
or  officer  of  the  Government  with  any  power  except  by 
authority  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  that 
only.  The  Constitution  gives  to  the  President  the 
power,  after  Congress  has  passed  bills,  to  veto  them; 
but  if  Congress  repasses  them  by  the  two-thirds  vote, 
then  his  oath  as  President  operates  as  the  Constitu 
tion  prescribes.  What  is  that  oath?  He  ' shall  take 
care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed.'  Our  fathers 
made  that  instrument  for  war  as  well  as  for  peace,  for 
the  hurricane  as  well  as  the  calm — so  made  that  instru 
ment  that  I  have  never  thought  it  necessary  to  go  out 
side  of  the  Constitution  for  authority  for  all  that  we 
have  done,  but  believed  that  the  power  to  declare  war 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  359 

carries  with  it  all  the  power  of  the  laws  of  nations  in 
war.  That  is  all  I  want.  [Applause.]  Our  fathers, 
with  wise  sagacity,  thought  there  might  be  a  President 
some  time  who  would  not  like  the  laws  which  Congress 
had  passed,  and  might  wish  to  set  up  a  policy  of  his  own 
against  them,  and  they  required  that  every  President 
should  swear  that  he  would  execute  the  laws.  They 
did  not  stop  there.  They  said,  '  You  shall  swear  that 
you  will  faithfully  execute  these  laws,  though  they 
may  be  contrary  to  your  policy.  Your  oath  as  Execu 
tive  requires  you  not  only  to  execute  them,  but  to  faith 
fully  execute  them.'  That  means  with  zeal  and  fidelity 
and  honesty.  They  did  not  stop  there.  They  insert 
words  which  are  found  nowhere  else,  peculiar  words, 
quaint  words,  that  do  not  occur  anywhere  else  in  your 
national  Constitution.  They  said,  he  shall  swear  that 
he  will  'take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed.7 
It  shall  be  the  object  of  his  heart's  zeal  to  do  it  with 
the  whole  vigor  of  his  nature,  with  the  whole  power  of 
the  Government,  enlisted  in  the  work  of  '  taking  care 
that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed.'  Who  will  say 
that  Andrew  Johnson  has  faithfully  kept  that  oath? 
['  No.']  No.  He  would  scarcely  say  so  himself.  [Ap 
plause.]  There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  misrepresenta 
tion  of  what  I  said  in  Ohio.  I  will  say  again  exactly 
what  I  said  there.  I  do  not  intend  to  take  back  my 
words.  I  said  that  when  Congress  assembled  again,  if 
they  find  that  the  laws  cannot  be  executed,  that  the 
President  will  not  execute  them,  but  on  the  contrary 
uses  his  Executive  power  to  resist  the  laws  of  Congress, 
and  to  keep  the  country  in  turmoil,  then  I  said  that  there 
was  only  one  resort,  and  our  fathers  put  upon  us  the 
responsibility  of  that  resort.  [Great  cheering.  A  voice 


j6o  Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax. 

— '  Impeacli  him.']  "What  I  have  said  has  been  taken 
down.  I  am  not  responsible  for  what  others  see  fit  to 
put  into  my  mouth ;  but  am  responsible  for  what  I  say, 
and  will  not  take  back  one  word.  [Applause.] 

That  is  not  all.  You  had  as  Secretary  of  War  one  on 
whose  strong  arm  Lincoln  leaned  in  every  hour  of  trial. 
[Tremendous  cheering.]  You  don't  know  how  much  you 
owed  to  that  Secretary  of  War.  Immersed  in  your  busi 
ness,  your  daily  duties,  you  took  up  your  paper  in  the 
morning  and  read  that  one  Union  General  with  his  brave 
followers  had  defeated  an  army  of  the  rebellion,  and  in 
your  morning  orisons  you  thanked  God  that  the  hour  of 
our  deliverance  drew  nigh.  You  little  knew  how  much 
labor,  foresight,  and  vigilance  were  required  to  keep  the 
Commissary  and  the  Quartermaster's  Department  amply 
supplied,  perhaps  by  a  single  line  of  railroad ;  to  have  a 
vast  accumulation  in  store  for  reverses  as  well  as  for 
victories ;  and  the  Secretary  had  to  provide  for  them,  to 
furnish  the  ammunition,  the  cannon,  the  rifles  and  com 
missary  stores,  and  a  large  surplus  of  all  these.  Large 
quantities  were  required  to  be  stored,  and  not  only 
these,  but  large  medical  supplies  must  be  forthcoming 
after  a  battle  for  the  thousands  lying  on  the  battle-field. 
Every  one  of  these  needed  auxiliaries  to  your  army  were 
keys  under  the  hand  or  the  fingers  of  the  Secretary  of 
War.  Day  and  night,  for  weeks  before  a  battle,  he  was 
engaged  in  the  work,  and  the  rebels  hated  him  because 
of  his  stern,  unflinching  zeal,  and  because  Abraham 
Lincoln  loved  him — that  was  enough.  But  there  was  a 
man  came  after  Lincoln,  Andrew  Johnson ;  and  because 
Mr.  Stan  ton  would  not  follow  him  in  his  wicked  apos- 
tacy ;  because  he  stood  by  the  laws  and  was  hated  by 
the  rebels,  and  as  they  had  the  ear  of  Johnson,  he 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  361 

turned  him  out,  and  the  hope  of  the  rebels  was  fulfilled 
for  a  time  at  least.  On  the  21st  day  of  November — only 
twenty-nine  days  more — I  count  the  days  day  by  day — 
[cheers] — on  the  21st  of  November  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  will  again  assemble ;  it  will  again  resume 
its  legislative  authority  and  power  in  those  halls 
[applause],  and  when  twenty  days  expire  from  that  time, 
Edwin  M.  Stan  ton  will  go  back  again  into  the  War 
Department.  [Tremendous  and  prolonged  cheering.] 
And  I  can  say,  in  the  language  of  Watts'  hymns: 

'*  'Fly  swiftly  round,  ye  wheels  of  time, 
And  speed  the  welcome  day.1 

11  But  there  is  another  General — a  General  who,  when 
I  mention  his  name,  every  loyal  heart  in  this  audience 
will  throb  with  joy  and  emotion — it  is  Phil.  Sheridan — 
[hearty  cheers] — a  man  who,  by  his  brilliant  dash  and 
magnetic  power  over  his  men,  wrested  victory  from  the 
very  jaws  of  defeat  in  the  Shenandoah — a  man  whose 
name  was  ever  the  synonym  for  success — a  man  who, 
as  the  Military  Commander  of  Louisiana  and  Texas, 
protected  the  defenceless  and  rebuked  the  disloyal — a 
man  who  demanded  that  traitors  should  take  back-seats 
there,  and  who  allowed  two  Governors  to  write  '  ex'  be 
fore  their  names  [laughter  and  applause]  by  turning 
them  out  of  office — a  man  who  breasted  and  turned 
back  the  tide  of  disloyalty  that  sought  to  sweep  over 
those  States.  [Applause.]  But  they  came  up  to 
Andrew  Johnson  and  they  said  to  him,  'This  man, 
Sheridan,  is  making  us  traitors  take  back-seats  in 
Louisiana ;  he  has  turned  out  Mayor  Monroe,  whom  you 
pardoned;  he  has  turned  out  Judge  Abel,  and  he  has 
turned  out  the  Governors  of  Louisiana  and  Texas,  and 


362  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

wants  ioyal  men  to  rule  down  there ;  we  don't  like  him  : 
he  don't  carry  out  your  policy,  and  we  want  }'ou  to  turn 
him  out.'  And  Andrew  Johnson  said,  '  He  has  refused 
to  carry  out  my  policy,  and  therefore  I  will  remove  him/ 
He  did  remove  him,  and  sought  to  disgrace  and  dishonor 
him,  but  when  Sheridan  came  North  he  was  welcomed 
with  an  ovation  such  as  any  conqueror  might  well  be 
proud  of.  [Applause.]  That  is  not  all.  There  was 
another  General — lie  used  to  be  a  Democratic  Congress 
man  from  the  city  of  New  York  [loud  cheers] — always 
a  patriot,  differing  widely  with  many  of  us  in  the  years 
that  passed  before  the  rebellion,  but  ever  loving  his 
country,  however  he  might  differ  from  others  in  regard 
to  policy.  But  when  the  war  broke  out  he  loved  his 
country  more  than  he  did  party,  like  many  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  of  Democrats  all  over  the  land, 
[cheers,]  and  he  enrolled  himself  bravely  under  the 
flag,  and  said,  '  Myself,  my  life,  my  limbs,  my  heart's 
blood,  I  offer  them  on  the  altar  of  my  country.'  [Cheers.] 
On  a  hundred  battle-fields  the  clear,  sharp,  clarion  tones 
of  his  voice,  which  you  know  so  well,  rang  out,  inspir 
ing  his  soldiers  to  rally  for  their  country  and  their 
sacred  cause,  and  on  the  field  of  Gettysburg,  where  for 
three  days  the  scales  of  national  life  or  death  hung 
trembling  in  the  balance,  when  we  scarcely  knew 
whether  we  would  have  a  country  saved  or  a  country 
lost,  ever  in  the  front  of  the  battle,  Daniel  E.  Sickles, 
[hearty  cheers,]  brave  among  the  bravest,  stood  heroic 
ally,  until  at  last  a  cannon-ball  of  the  enemy  shattered 
his  limb,  and  I  saw  last  spring  the  barn  in  which,  after 
he  had  reddened  the  soil  with  his  blood,  the  amputating 
instrument  of  the  surgeon  severed  the  limb  from  the 
body,  and  sent  him  out  to  totter  on  a  weary  crutch  the 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  363 

remaining  years  of  his  life,  till  the  grave  closes  over  his 
body.  He  commanded  in  North  and  South  Carolina. 
His  first  act  there,  and  one  for  which  I  honor  him,  and 
one  for  which  I  know  you  will  honor  him,  was  to  annul 
the  laws  under  which  they  were  whipping  white  and 
black  men  for  petty  offences.  [Cheers.]  He  said  it  was 
a  disgrace  to  the  civilization  and  Christianity  of  the  age. 
With  ill-disguised  reluctance,  with  unconcealed  aversion, 
they  yielded  to  the  military  power  in  the  orders  of 
Daniel  B.  Sickles.  He  did  not  stop  there.  He  saw  their 
processions  passing  up  and  down  the  streets  of  Charles 
ton,  that  disloyal  city,  with  the  Confederate  flag  waving 
over  them,  the  emblem  of  their  lost  cause,  and  the  por 
trait  of  Stonewall  Jackson  and  their  other  Generals 
borne  in  their  midst;  and  at  last,  when  his  righteous 
anger  could  be  restrained  no  longer,  he  issued  an  order 
and  said — whether  you  like  that  flag  or  not,  the  flag  of 
the  Union  shall  be  before  my  head-quarters,  and  as  your 
procession  passes  every  man  of  you  shall  bare  your  head 
and  bow  as  you  pass  before  it.  [Wild  cheers.]  And  so 
the  rebels  came  again  to  Washington,  [laughter,]  and 
they  said  to  Mr.  Johnson  '  We  don't  like  this  man  we 
have  got  in  North  and  South  Carolina.  He  does  not 
carry  out  your  policy  down  there.  He  believes  in  the 
laws  of  this  Congress;  he  executes  those  laws;  he  in 
tends  that  none  but  loyal  men  shall  have  power  there. 
We  want  you  to  turn  him  out.'  And  Andrew  Johnson, 
forgetting  the  fact  that  the  salvation  of  our  country  was 
owing  to  the  sacrifices  of  those  brave  men,  whom,  one 
by  one,  he  thus  '  kicked  out  of  office,'  seeking  to  dishonor 
them,  turned  him  out  and  sent  him  back  here,  to  serve 
hereafter,  with  the  stars  off  his  shoulders,  as  a  Colonel 
of  the  Veteran  Reserve  Corps.  ['  Shame,'  and  cheers  for 


364  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

Sickles.]  That  is  the  reward  he  has  given  to  your 
faithful  servants.  Now,  I  have  only  to  read  to  you  a 
single  sentence  from  the  father  of  the  Constitution.  It 
is  not  in  my  language,  but  James  Madison's.  He  says : 
*  Wanton  removal  of  meritorious  officers  would  subject 
the  President  to  impeachment  and  removal  from  his  own 
high  trust.'  [Cheers.]  Somebody  in  this  crowd  asked 
me  about  the  army  in  Maryland.  I  suppose  you  will 
hear  about  that  from  the  eloquent  gentleman  who  is  to 
follow  me,  and  who  is  from  that  State,  (if  I  ever  get 
through  with  my  speech,  and  your  many  plaudits 
lengthen  it,)  but  I  have  something  to  say  about  it,  be 
cause  I  have  no  doubt  you  have  all  heard  something  I 
have  been  charged  with  saying  upon  the  subject.  I  am 
now  going  to  repeat  what  I  said  before.  In  the  month 
of  September  last  I  read  in  the  two  organs  of  your 
President  at  Washington,  the  morning  organ,  The 
National  Intelligencer,  and  the  evening  organ,  The  Union, 
threats  in  regard  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 
The  National  Intelligencer  said:  'If  Congress  ever  again 
convenes?  These  are  significant  words  and  mean  that  it 
did  not  know  whether  our  master  was  going  to  allow 
us  to  convene  or  not.  The  Union  uttered  this  language 
which  I  cut  out  and  have  here  to  read  to  you.  On  the 
31st  of  August  last  it  said : 

"  *  Men  of  America,  we  call  upon  you  in  God's  name 
and  the  name  of  liberty  to  rouse,  to  organize  and  pre 
pare  to  meet  this  insidious,  heartless  tyrant,'  (speaking 
of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.)  'If  necessary, 
consecrate  the  dying  struggles  of  liberty  and  constitu 
tional  law  with  your  blood.' 

"  On  the  2d  of  September  this  evening  organ  of  the 
President  again  said : 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  365 

'"The  Republic  is  not  to  be  utterly  destroyed  while 
Andrew  Johnson  is  President.  *  *  *  Congress  will 

go  out  of  sight  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye} 

fi  And  then  I  read  of  this  army  in  Maryland,  where  at 
the  opening  of  the  rebellion  the  first  blood  of  your 
patriot  soldiers  was  spilt  and  dyed  the  stones  of  its 
streets  as  they  passed  through  Baltimore  to  save  the 
Capital  of  an  imperilled  country.  I  do  not  know  why 
such  an  army  is  being  organized :  I  do  not  know  why  its 
battalions  are  marching  and  drilling  day  and  night  by 
the  beat  of  drum,  and  its  batteries  of  artillery  are  rum 
bling  through  the  streets.  I  do  not  believe  there  is  any 
one  who  dare  execute  these  threats  that  I  have  read  to 
you  from  these  organs  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States.  But  this  I  did  say  in  Ohio,  that  if  any  one  in  this 
broad  land  by  revolutionary  force  destroys  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  overthrows  the  law-making  power 
of  this  country,  and  drives  it  from  its  halls  by  illegal 
military  power — I  care  not  who  that  man  is,  be  he  high 
or  low,  if  we  have  a  country,  he  will  afterward  be  tried 
as  a  traitor,  and  convicted  as  a  traitor,  he  will  die  a 
traitor's  death  and  fill  a  traitor's  grave.  [Immense 
applause.]  I  have  no  fear  of  any  such  thing.  I  use  no 
threats.  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  doing  it,  but  I  utter 
that  prediction,  knowing,  as  I  believe,  the  will  of  the 
people,  and  what  their  own  hearts  and  consciences  would 
demand.  There  has  been  one  rebellion,  that  is  only 
remembered  in  broken  hearts  and  crowded  grave-yards, 
and  weeds  of  mourning,  and  vacant  chairs  in  every 
household,  and  weary  crutches,  and  empty  sleeves,  and 
pallid  faces,  and  wasted  frames,  a  heavy  debt,  and  taxes: 
but  if  there  is  to  be  another  rebellion  after  this,  if  the 
law-making  power,  which  is  the  people  speaking  through 


366  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

their  Senators  and  Representatives,  is  to  be  trampled 
under  foot  by  revolutionary  force,  I  believe  in  my  heart 
there  will  be  some  example  made  to  go  down  into  Ameri 
can  history  as  a  warning,  that  no  man  hereafter  shall 
gamble  with  the  peace  of  this  country  and  lose  nothing 
by  the  stake.  [Cheers.]  Let  me,  before  I  draw  to  a  con 
clusion,  ['  go  on,']  allude  to  some  remarks  of  the 
distinguished  President  of  the  Democratic  State  Con 
vention,  recently  assembled,  Gov.  Seymour.  [Laughter 
and  hisses.]  You  hiss  here — now,  out  in  Indiana  we 
never  hiss,  we  do  our  hissing  by  our  votes  at  the  polls. 
[Cheers.]  That  is  a  great  deal  the  best  place.  [Applause.] 
But  Gov.  Seymour  had  a  great  deal  to  say  in  that  speech 
about  that  enormous  debt.  He  talked  about  thousands 
of  millions  of  debt  and  hundreds  of  millions  of  taxes.  I 
grant  it ;  but  I  say  that  the  Democratic  voters  are  the 
last  men  under  the  heavens  to  talk  about  the  debt  and 
the  taxes.  I  know  that  you  are  taxed  in  basket  and  in 
store.  I  know  that  you  are  taxed  on  goods  imported 
from  abroad  and  on  your  industry  at  home.  I  know 
you  are  taxed  on  tea  and  coffee.  I  know  you  are  taxed 
on  every  paper  you  use  in  commercial  transactions; 
but  you  are  taxed  because  there  was  a  Democratic 
rebellion — Democratic  in  its  birth,  Democratic  in  its 
life,  and  Democratic  in  its  death.  Democratic  in  its 
inception,  it  was  fostered  and  kept  alive  by  Democratic 
aid  and  sympathy,  and  when  it  died  it  was  wept  over 
only  by  Democrats.  [Laughter  and  applause.]  I  should 
think  that  every  cup  of  tea  and  coffee  these  Democratic 
orators  drink  would  blister  their  mouths  as  it  reminds 
them  of  the  fact.  [Renewed  laughter  and  cheers.]  Every 
stamp  you  put  upon  a  deed,  a  check,  or  a  mortgage,  is  a 
Democratic  sticking-plaster  to  remind  you  of  a  Demo 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  367 

cratic  rebellion.  [Laughter  and  cheers.]  It  was  a 
Democratic  rebellion.  What  party  was  in  power  when 
the  rebellion  broke  out  ?  The  Democratic  party.  You 
had  a  Democratic  President,  and  he  had  a  Democratic 
Cabinet.  Where  was  your  Democratic  President?  His 
arm  hung  nerveless  by  his  side,  and  when  the  country 
was  wanting  to  see  him  take  the  traitors  by  the  throat 
and  strangle  the  monster  they  were  raising,  he  issued 
a  proclamation,  through  his  message,  that  he  had  no 
right  to  prevent  a  State  from  seceding ;  and  giving  them 
this  assurance  that  he  would  not  interfere,  they  went  on 
and  organized  their  Confederate  Government,  and  on  the 
18th  of  February,  Jefferson  Davis  was  sworn  in  as 
President,  and  Alex.  H.  Stephens  as  Yice- President  of 
the  Southern  Confederacy,  two  weeks  before  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  sworn  in  as  President  of  the  United  States. 
A  Democratic  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Howell  Cobb, 
had  stabbed  the  credit  of  the  Government  in  the  hope 
that  it  would  not  be  able  to  borrow  money  to  put  men 
into  the  field,  and  arm  and  equip  them.  A  Democratic 
Secretary  of  War,  John  B.  Floyd,  had  emptied  the 
Northern  arsenals  and  filled  the  arsenals  of  the  South,  so 
as  to  disarm  the  North  and  arm  the  South ;  he  had  sent 
his  friends,  in  the  South,  cannon  and  hundreds  of  thou 
sands  of  guns,  so  that  when  the  Eebellion  broke  out 
they  could  shoot  down  every  one  of  you  with  your  own 
guns,  that  dared  to  be  faithful  to  your  country,  ['  that's 
so,']  and  he  had  scattered  your  armies  to  the  very  ends 
of  the  Republic,  so  that  they  could  not  be  recalled  in 
time  to  be  at  the  call  of  the  incoming  President. 

"  A  Democratic  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Isaac  Toucey, 
had  sent  our  navy  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Its  ships 
were  in  the  Pacific,  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  in  the 


368  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

Chinese  Sea,  in  the  South  Sea — everywhere  but  within 
call.     Such  was  the  condition  of  things  that,  as  I  was  in 
formed  by  Mr.  Lincoln   himself,   when   he   came   into 
office,  he  could  find  but  a  regiment  or  two  within  reach 
to  defend  the  country,  and  only  one  frigate  of  all  the 
navy  which  cost  us  $13,000,000  per  year,  and  that  the 
Brooklyn,  which  drew  too  much  water  to  enter  Charles 
ton  harbor.     Your  Government  was  bound  hand  and 
foot,  defenceless  at  the  feet  of  its  enemies.     That  is  not 
all.     Every  State  that  rebelled  had  a  Democratic  Gov 
ernor.     Is  not  that  a  singular  coincidence  ?     And  every 
State  that  had  a  Democratic  Governor  rebelled  except 
Kentucky  and  Missouri,  and  these  two  States  refused  to 
answer  the  call  of  the  President  for  troops,  the  Governor 
of  one  of  them  (Missouri)  going  out  into  the  rebellion, 
as  the  heart  of  the  Governor  of  Kentucky  had  gone  be 
fore.     That  is  not  all.     Every  leading  officer  in  that 
Confederacy  was  a  Democrat.  The  President,  Jeff.  Davis, 
was  a  Democrat.     The  Yice-President,  Alex.  H.  Stevens, 
was  a  Democrat ;  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Eepre- 
sentatives,   Thomas  S.  Bocock,  was  a  Democrat;   the 
Cabinet  Ministers  were  all  Democrats ;   Memminger,  of 
South  Carolina,  was  a  Democrat ;  Benjamin,  of  Louisiana, 
was  a  Democrat ;  Mallory,  of  Florida,  was  a  Democrat ; 
Reagan  of  Texas,  was  a  Democrat,  and  Sedden,  of  Vir 
ginia,  was  a  Democrat.     Every  one  of  them,  except  one, 
were  Democratic  members  of  Congress,  and  all  of  them 
were  Democrats.     [Applause.]     The  chief  commanders 
of  their  armies  were  Democrats.     Lee  was  a  Democrat ; 
Beauregard  was  a  Democrat ;  Breckenridge,  a  Democratic 
Vice- President,  who  had  himself,  solemnly,  under  his 
oath  of  office,  declared  Abraham  Lincoln  the  constitu 
tionally  elected  President  of  the  United  States,  and  then 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  369 

drew  his  sword  for  the  Confederacy.  Hardie,  Pember- 
ton,  Magruder — Democrats  all  through  and  through.  Its 
foreign  Ministers  were  Democrats.  Slidell,  of  Louisiana, 
was  a  Democrat,  Mason,  of  Virginia,  was  a  Democrat, 
Kost,  of  Louisiana,  was  a  Democrat — all  of  them  Demo 
crats.  [Applause.]  That  is  not  all.  Every  man  in  the 
North  who  shouted  'No  coercion/  and  said  you  could 
not  put  down  the  rebellion,  every  man  who  gave  aid, 
comfort,  and  sympathy  to  this  wicked  rebellion,  to  the 
last  mother's  son  of  them,  every  one  of  them  was  a 
Democrat — not  a  single  one  Republican,  thank  God. 

"In  this  same  platform  of  the  Democratic  party, 
they  say  that  they  indorse  the  principles  of  the  Kotzka 
case.  They  do,  do  they  ?  The  principle  of  the  Kotzka 
case  is  written  upon  our  banner,  and  not  upon  theirs. 
[Applause.]  What  was  that  principle  ?  A  poor  emi 
grant  who  had  come  to  our  shores,  and  declared  his  in 
tention  to  become  an  American  citizen,  had  gone  back 
to  Austria,  and  the  minions  of  Austria  had  laid  their 
hands  upon  him,  and  had  said,  '  You  are  an  Austrian 
subject — you  shall  be  subject  to  the  Emperor's  will — 
you  shall  go  into  his  army.'  When  the  news  came 
back  to  America,  though  the  man  was  friendless,  with 
out  kith  or  kin,  and  with  no  means,  he  sent  his  wail  of 
distress  across  the  Atlantic,  and  Congress  and  the  Gov 
ernment  sent  back  word  to  the  Emperor  of  Austria — '  If 
you  dare  to  lay  your  finger  upon  that  man — if  you  dare 
to  subject  him  to  your  authority,  we  will  send  our  armies 
and  our  navies  to  your  shores,  if  .it  costs  us  millions 
upon  millions.'  [Cheers.]  That  is  the  Kotzka  case.  Now 
I  want  to  read  to  you  what  Secretary  of  State  Marcy 
said  on  that  subject  in  his  letter  written  in  1853,  four 
teen  years  ago : 


370  Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax. 

11 '  Whenever  an  individual  becomes  clothed  with  onr 
national  character,  be  he  a  native-born  or  naturalized 
citizen,  an  exile  driven  from  his  early  home  by  political 
oppression,  or  an  emigrant  enticed  from  it  by  the  hopes 
of  a  better  future  for  himself  and  his  posterity,  he  can 
claim  the  protection  of  this  Government.  *  *  For  it  is 
its  duty  to  make  its  nationality  respected  by  other  na 
tions,  and  respected  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe.' 

«  Why  ?  These  are  the  reasons : 

" '  Such  domiciled  citizen  pays  the  same  price  far  his 
protection  as  native-born  or  naturalized  citizens  pay  for 
theirs.  He  is  under  the  bonds  of  allegiance  to  the 
country  of  his  residence,  and  if  he  breaks  them  incurs 
the  same  penalties ;  he  owes  the  same  obedience  to  the 
civil  laws  and  must  discharge  the  duties  they  impose 
upon  him;  his  property  is  in  the  same  way,  and  to  the 
same  extent  as  theirs,  liable  to  contribute  to  the  support 
of  the  Government.  In  war  he  shares  equally  with 
them  in  the  calamities  which  may  befall  his  country ; 
his  services  may  be  required  for  its  defence,  his  life  may 
be  perilled  and  sacrificed  in  maintaining  its  rights  and 
vindicating  its  honor.' — Marcy  on  Kotzka,  1855. 

"  We  have  written  this  upon  our  banners,  we  say, 
that  every  man  who  sheds  his  blood  under  it  shall  have 
the  protection  of  that  banner.  [Cheers.]  And  that 
brings  me  again  to  this  Democratic  party.  I  want  to 
show,  now,  how  it  has  trampled  upon  these  truths  of  its 
fathers,  and  turned  back  upon  the  principles  upon  which 
it  was  founded,  in  the  good  old  times  when  it  used  to 
claim  that  it  was  a  party  that  protected  the  poor.  Look 
at  its  last  years  of  subserviency  to  slavery.  God's  poor 
it  trampled  under  foot,  and  when  we  struck  the  chains 
from  them,  they  clustered  round  the  slave-owners  and 
tried  to  keep  the  fetters  upon  the  limbs  of  God's  poor. 


Life  of  Schnyler  Colfax.  371 

They  talk  about  being  opposed  to  class-legislation. 
"Why,  they  have  been  for  legislation  for  the  slaveholders, 
the  worst  class-legislation  that  ever  disgraced  any  land 
on  the  face  of  the  earth.  They  talk  of  a  Government  of 
the  people,  and  yet  they  sympathized  with  the  rebels,  a 
minority  against  the  Government  established  by  a  ma 
jority  of  the  people.  They  talk  about  equal  and  exact 
justice  to  all  men.  Why  any  of  you  go  to  a  Democratic 
convention  and  try  the  experiment ;  offer  a  resolution  : 
'Resolved,  in  the  language  of  Jefferson's  Inaugural,  that 
we  demand,  and  will  stand  by  to  the  end,  equal  and 
exact  justice  for  all  men,'  and  they  will  hiss  you  out  of 
their  convention.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  They  talk 
about  standing  by  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Jefferson,  the  father  of  their  party,  was  the  writer  of  that 
instrument.  He  wrote  that  with  his  pen  which  Wash 
ington  afterwards  carved  out  so  gloriously  with  his 
sword.  But  if  he  could  rise  from  the  grave  to-day,  and 
look  at  the  men  who  claim  to  be  his  children,  he  would 
turn  round  and  say :  '  I  never  knew  you.' 

"Go  into  a  Democratic  convention  and  try  it ;  offer  a 
resolution,  *  Resolved,  that  we  declare,  in  the  language 
of  Jefferson,  that  all  men  are  created  equal,  and  that 
governments  derive  all  their  just  powers  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed,'  and  they  will  turn  you  out  as 
abolitionists.  And  that  is  not  all.  They  predict  evil, 
and  then  they  try  to  verify  it.  They  said  you  could  not 
subjugate  the  South,  and  they  fought  every  war  policy 
of  the  Government  intended  to  subjugate  it.  They  had 
no  rejoicing  for  your  victories ;  no  sorrows  for  your 
reverses,  no  eulogies  for  your  heroes,  no  war  but  with 
Mr.  Lincoln.  They  said  you  could  not  reconstruct 
when  the  war  was  over ;  and  when  you  passed  the  laws, 


37  2  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

they  went  over  the  land  fostering  discord  and  en 
couraging  unrepentant  rebels  to  defy  the  laws.  They 
said  you  could  not  pay  the  public  debt,  and  they  dis 
couraged  subscriptions  to  the  Government  loan,  and  said 
that  greenbacks  would  finally  be  good  for  nothing,  that 
it  would  take  a  hatful  of  them  to  buy  a  hat.  [Laughter 
and  applause.]  That  is  not  all.  At  the  very  opening 
of  the  rebellion  Jeff.  Davis  shouted  'No  coercion,'  and 
so  did  the  Democrats  of  the  North.  When  Abraham 
Lincoln  put  negroes  into  the  army  to  fight,  Jeff.  Davis 
denounced  it ;  so  did  the  Democrats.  When  Mr.  Lincoln 
issued  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  Jeff.  Davis  de 
nounced  it;  so  did  the  Democrats.  When  Jeff.  Davis 
said  this  was  a  negro  war,  the  Democrats  echoed  his 
words  and  said :  '  This  is  a  negro  war.'  When  Jeff.  Davis 
denouDced  Abraham  Lincoln  as  a  tyrant  and  despot,  the 
Democrats  echoing  his  words  said, '  Abraham  Lincoln  is 
a  tyrant  and  despot.'  Jeff.  Davis  ridiculed  the  green 
backs  ;  so  did  the  Democrats ;  and  at  last  Jeff.  Davis 
said:  'You  cannot  conquer  the  South,'  and  then  the 
Democrats  met  in  convention  at  Chicago — and  do  you 
remember  when  Andrew  Jackson  lived  he  thrilled  the 
national  heart  and  thrills  it  to-day  with  that  motto 
which  will  live  as  long  as  his  name  is  remembered  and 
honored,  as  it  will  be  as  a  patriot:  ' The  Union,  it  must 
and  shall  be  preserved.'  [Cheers.]  And  these  men 
went  to  Chicago,  claiming  to  be  the  descendants  of 
Andrew  Jackson  politically,  and  in  the  very  crisis  of 
your  national  agony,  when  you  had  000,000  men  in  the 
field  or  dying  in  hospitals,  who  were  calling  to  us,  '  Give 
us  aid,  send  down  more  men ;  we  will  die  here,  so  that 
the  nation  shall  live.'  And  the  answer  came  from  the 
Chicago  Convention,  (  You  cannot  put  down  the  rebel- 


Life  of  Schuyler  Colfax.  373 

lion  ;  we  declare  that  the  war  is  a  failure,  and  we  demand 
a  cessation  of  hostilities.'  I  turn  gladly  from  this  dark 
picture  I  have  painted  to  you  of  the  usurpations  of  your 
President  and  the  recreancy  of  those  who  called  them 
selves  the  Democratic  party,  to  that  party  we  love  in  our 
heart  of  hearts.  Oh  my  friends,  its  victories  are  en 
shrined  in  our  history.  You  must  tear  out  from  the 
annals  of  our  country  its  brightest  pages,  before  posterity 
shall  forget  the  victories  and  the  bright  deeds  of  this 
noble  party,  of  which  you  and  I  are  part  and  parcel. 
[Immense  applause.]  My  friends,  you  may  all  pass 
away;  this  vast  throng  that  is  listening  to  me  so  kindly, 
and  so  attentively,  may  all  be  gathered,  as  we  all  shall  be, 
under  the  clods  of  the  valley ;  but  the  deeds  of  our  great 
organization  shall  live  in  all  history,  brightening  in  the 
eye  of  posterity  until  age  after  age  shall  have  passed 
away ;  and  your  children's  children  shall  rise  up  and 
call  you  blessed,  because  amid  all  the  perils  of  war 
you  dared  to  strike  at  Slavery,  and  redeemed  this 
fair  land  so  gloriously  that,  from  ocean  to  ocean,  and 
from  the  snows  of  the  North  to  where  the  flowers  bloom 
in  perpetual  spring,  there  lives  no  man  who  can  call 
himself  master,  or  call  another  his  slave-."  [Long-con 
tinued  applause.] 
23 


374  £{fe  °f  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

LETTER  TO  GOVERNOR  BAKER — NOMINATED  BY  INDIANA 
REPUBLICAN  CONVENTION  FOR  VICE-PRESIDENT — CHI 
CAGO  NATIONAL  UNION  REPUBLICAN  CONVENTION — 
PLATFORM  OF  THE  CONVENTION — NOMINATION  OF 
GRANT  AND  COLFAX. 

ON  the  fifteenth  of  February,  1868,  Mr.  Colfax  wrote 
to  Governor  Baker,  of  Indiana,  the  following  letter, 
which  was  read  in  the  State  Kepublican  Convention  of 
Indiana,  that  met  at  Indianapolis,  February  20th,  1868 : 

"  His  EXCELLENCY  GOVERNOR  BAKER  : 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  :  I  should  be  glad  to  accept  your  kind 
invitation,  and  thus  enjoy  the  privilege  of  looking  into 
the  faces  of  the  representative  men  of  our  organization 
in  Indiana,  when  they  come  together  next  Thursday  in 
their  biennial  convention.  But  the  rules  of  the  House 
do  not  allow  its  presiding  officer  to  be  absent  during 
its  sessions,  and  I  must  therefore  deny  myself  this  great 
pleasure.  It  may  not  be  inappropriate,  on  the  threshold 
of  the  important  campaign  before  us,  to  look  back  for  a 
few  minutes  at  those  deeds  and  triumphs  of  our  young 
and  patriotic  party  which  are  garnered  up  in  our  na 
tional  history,  and  which  no  defamation  by  our  enemies 
can  ignore  or  obscure. 

"  When  the  Eebellion,  with  its  Democratic  President, 
Democratic  Cabinet  officers,  and  Democratic  Generals, 
threw  down  the  gauntlet  at  the  feet  of  the  nation  they 
had  resolved  to  destroy,  and  when  the  Democratic 
leaders  of  the  North,  in  reply,  exclaimed  '  No  coercion,' 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  375 

it  was  the  Union  Republican  party  that  wrote  on  its  ban 
ners,  '  The  last  man  and  the  last  dollar,  if  need  be ;'  and 
the  unconquerable  armies  their  Congressional  legislation 
called  to  the  field,  finally  '  coerced '  the  rebellion  into 
subjection. 

"  In  the  darkest  days  of  the  struggle,  when  at  every 
street-corner  we  were  tauntingly  told  by  Democrats, 
'  You  can't  conquer  the  South,'  there  was  one  party  that 
never  despaired  of  the  Republic,  and  that  party  was  the 
one  whose  delegates  now  meet  at  our  State  capital. 

"  When  unprecedented  and  onerous  taxation  became 
necessary  to  maintain  our  credit,  to  pay  and  supply  our 
heroic  soldiers,  we  dared  to  defy  the  prejudice  which 
every  Democratic  speaker  and  editor  attempted  to  in 
flame  against  the  burdens  of  taxation ;  and,  thus  daring, 
triumphed. 

"  When  conscription  laws  became  a  military  necessity, 
to  fill  up  our  regiments  decimated  again  and  again  by 
the  bullets  of  the  enemy  and  the  diseases  of  the  camp, 
the  siege  and  the  march,  and  when  the  land  was  filled 
with  Democratic  denunciations  of  these  laws,  we  risked 
popularity,  victory,  and  all,  by  defending  them  as 
bravely  as  our  veterans  defended  the  country  in  the  field. 

"  When  Mr.  Lincoln  at  last  struck  at  slavery  as  the 
cause  of  all  our  woes,  as  well  as  the  right  arm  of  the 
rebellion,  and  when  Democratic  orators  and  writers  most 
scandalously  and  persistently  calumniated  us  as  having 
converted  the  war  for  the  Union  into  an  abolition  war 
to  free  negroes,  we  fearlessly  allied  our  cause  to  that  of 
the  humble  and  the  helpless,  and  Providence  rewarded 
us  for  our  fidelity  by  that  brilliant  succession  of  triumphs 
which  gave  victory  to  the  Union  as  well  as  freedom  to 
the  slave. 


376  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"  When  the  National  Convention  of  our  opponents  at 
Chicago  dared  to  hang  out  the  white  flag  of  surrender, 
by  proclaiming  the  war  a  failure,  and  demanding  an 
immediate  cessation  of  hostilities,  we  promptly  accepted 
the  issue.  And  the  soldier  with  his  cartridge-box,  and 
the  voter  with  the  ballot-box,  united  in  stamping  their 
indignant  condemnation  on  the  disgraceful  avowal. 

"  When  the  Government  was  compelled  to  issue  bonds 
by  the  hundreds  of  millions  for  the  preservation  of  our 
national  existence,  Democrats  ridiculed  them  as  worth 
less,  and  cautioned  the  people  against  risking  their  means 
in  them.  But  the  loyal  people  were  deaf  to  their  warn 
ings  ;  and  now  the  same  party  denounce  them  as  having 
made  too  good  an  investment  in  their  purchase. 

"When  'greenbacks'  were  authorized  by  a  Kepublican 
Congress,  who  can  forget  the  Democratic  predictions 
that  it  would  ultimately  take  a  hatful  of  them  to  buy  a 
hat  ?  And  now  they  have  the  assurance  to  seek  to  make 
political  capital  out  of  their  popularity. 

"  When  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress  rejected  the  Presi 
dent's  policy  of  reconstruction,  and  insisted  on  pne  which 
should  embody  constitutional  guarantees  for  the  future, 
with  full  protection  for  all  who  loved  the  flag  and  the 
Union,  our  enemies  denounced  us  as  wishing  to  postpone 
reconstruction.  Now  these  same  Democrats,  with  their 
ally,  the  President,  are  striving  to  put  every  possible 
stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  the  return  of  these  self- 
exiled  States. 

"  When  ( the  Fourteenth  Article'  was  proposed  as  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution — embodying  no  manda 
tory  suffrage  enactment,  but  protecting  equally  the  civil 
rights  of  all,  native-born  and  naturalized,  making  a  voter 
in  Indiana  just  as  potential  as  one  in  South  Carolina,  and 


Life  of  Schuyler  Co/fax.  377 

no  more,  and  barring  the  door  of  the  Treasury  against 
any  payments  for  emancipated  slaves  or  the  rebel  debt, 
the  whole  Democratic  party  denounced  it,  and  urged  the 
South  to  spurn  it,  as  they  did.  Now  the  two  Democratic 
States  of  Kentucky  and  Maryland  demand  payment,  out 
of  the  people's  taxes  in  the  Treasury,  for  the  slaves  the 
nation  emancipated ;  and  the  two  Democratic  Legisla 
tures  of  Ohio  and  New  Jersey  endeavor  to  withdraw  the 
assent  of  those  States  to  this  beneficent  Constitutional 
Amendment,  leaving  the  door  open  for  the  presentation 
of  these  Democratic  claims  if  a  Democratic  Congress 
could  be  chosen. 

"  I  will  not  extend  this  letter  by  a  defence  of  the  Con 
gressional  policy  of  reconstruction,  for  Senator  Morton's 
able  vindication  of  it  has  covered  the  whole  ground 
unanswerably.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  Congress,  having 
authorized  the  suffrage  of  every  free  man  in  the  South 
ern  States,  rebels  and  all,  except  those  who,  by  violating 
official  oaths,  had  added  perjury  to  treason,  and  the 
Democratic  party  having  denounced  us  for  this  limited 
and  temporary  disfranchisement,  the  same  party  shouts 
its  rejoicings  over  the  fact  that  the  remainder  of  the 
unrepentant  rebels  in  Alabama  have  recently  and 
voluntarily  disfranchised  themselves,  in  the  vain  attempt 
to  prevent  the  reorganization  of  that  State  on  a  loyal 
basis. 

"  Nor  is  this  all.  The  President,  now  in  full  sympa 
thy  with  the  same  Democratic  party  which  opposed  his 
election — the  same  person  who,  as  a  candidate,  declared 
that  treason  should  be  made  odious,  but  who,  as  Chief 
Magistrate,  is  the  hope  and  admiration  of  every  rebel 
in  the  land — whose  oath  binds  him  '  to  take  care  that 
the  laws  be  faithfully  executed,'  and  who  keeps  it  by 


378  Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax. 

striking  down  officer  after  officer  for  the  performance  of 
this  duty — who  retains  in  office  and  under  salary  as  his 
Attorney-General  a  gentleman  who  says  publicly  that 
he  will  not  appear  before  the  Court  to  defend  '  the  laws' 
from  hostile  attack — (despite  his  anti-Stanton  message,  in 
which  he  claims  that  these  Executive  officers  should  be 
in  unison  with  him) — stands  at  last  self-convicted  before 
the  country  as  having  striven  to  induce  the  General  of 
our  armies  to  defy  a  law  he  did  not  himself  dare  to 
resist.  Signally  failing  in  this,  his  Democratic  support 
ers  unite  in  bitter  denunciations  of  that  single-hearted 
and  illustrious  officer,  with  epithets  which  I  will  not  soil 
these  pages  by  repeating.  But  the  heart  of  the  country, 
always  generous  and  just,  turns  towards  this  gallant 
and  slandered  Commander,  with  even  more  affection 
than  before,  and  longs  for  the  hour  when,  at  the  ballot- 
box,  the  people  will  vindicate  his  fair  fame  from  these 
malignant  aspersions,  and  call  him  to  that  seat  of  power 
and  responsibility  which  has  been  honored  by  the  Father 
of  the  Country  thatour  greatest  soldier  saved. 

"And  the  Congress  to  whose  fidelity  and  inflexible 
firmness  the  nation,  despite  the  criticism  of  friend  or 
foe,  owes  the  prevention  of  rebel  reconstruction  in  the 
South,  will,  instead  of  taking  any  backward  step,  'speak 
to  the  people  that  they  go  forward,'  until  every  star  on 
our  banner,  paled  though  they  may  have  been  by 
treason,  shall  shine  with  that  brilliancy  which  only 
loyalty  insures.  "  Very  truly  yours, 

"SCHUYLER  COLFAX." 

The  Eepublican  State  Convention  of  Indiana,  in  har 
mony  with  the  action  of  all  the  Eepublican  State  Con 
ventions,  instructed  its  delegates  to  cast  the  vote  of  the 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  379 

State  for  General  Grant  for  President.  With  like  zeal 
and  unanimity  they  also  instructed  their  delegates  to 
cast  the  vote  of  Indiana  for  Mr.  Colfax  for  the  Yice- 
Presidency. 

The  National  Union  Republican  Convention  met  in 
Chicago  on  Wednesday,  May  20th,  1868.  There  were 
present  delegates  from  all  the  States  and  Territories. 
They  numbered  six  hundred  and  fifty.  The  following 
was  the  platform  of  principles  adopted : 

"  The  National  Republican  party  of  the  United  States, 
assembled  in  National  Convention  in  the  city  of  Chicago^ 
on  the  21st  day  of  May,  1868,  make  the  following  decla 
ration  of  principles : 

"  I.  We  congratulate  the  country  on  the  assured  suc 
cess  of  the  Reconstruction  policy  of  Congress,  as  evinced 
by  the  adoption,  in  the  majority  of  the  States  lately  in 
rebellion,  of  Constitutions  securing  Equal,  Civil,  and 
Political  Rights  to  all,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Govern 
ment  to  sustain  those  institutions  and  to  prevent  the 
people  of  such  States  from  being  remitted  to  a  state  of 
anarchy. 

"  II.  The  guarantee  by  Congress  of  Equal  Suffrage  to 
all  loyal  men  at  the  South,  was  demanded  by  every  con 
sideration  of  public  safety,  of  gratitude,  and  of  justice, 
and  must  be  maintained ;  while  the  question  of  Suffrage 
in  all  the  loyal  States  properly  belongs  to  the  people  of 
those  States. 

"  III.  We  denounce  all  forms  of  repudiation  as  a  na 
tional  crime ;  and  the  national  honor  requires  the  pay 
ment  of  the  public  indebtedness  in  the  uttermost  good 
faith  to  all  creditors  at  home  and  abroad,  not  only  ac 
cording  to  the  letter,  but  the  spirit  of  the  laws  under 
which  it  was  contracted. 


380  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"  TV.  It  is  due  to  the  Labor  of  the  Nation  that  taxa 
tion  should  be  equalized,  and  reduced  as  rapidly  as  the 
national  faith  will  permit. 

"V.  The  National  Debt  contracted,  as  it  has  been, 
for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  for  all  time  to  come, 
should  be  extended  over  a  fair  period  for  redemption ; 
and  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  reduce  the  rate  of  in 
terest  thereon,  whenever  it  can  be  honestly  done. 

"  VI.  That  the  best  policy  to  diminish  our  burden  of 
debt  is  to  so  improve  our  credit  that  capitalists  will  seek 
to  loan  us  money  at  lower  rates  of  interest  than  we  now 
pay,  and  must  continue  to  pay  so  long  as  repudiation, 
partial  or  total,  open  or  covert,  is  threatened  or  sus 
pected. 

"VII.  The  Government  of  the  United  States  should 
be  administered  with  the  strictest  economy;  and  the 
corruptions  which  have  been  so  shamefully  nursed  and 
fostered  by  Andrew  Johnson,  call  loudly  for  radical  re 
form. 

"VIII.  We  profoundly  deplore  the  untimely  and 
tragic  death  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  regret  the  acces 
sion  to  the  Presidency  of  Andrew  Johnson,  who  has 
acted  treacherously  to  the  people  who  elected  him  and 
the  cause  he  was  pledged  to  support ;  who  has  usurped 
high  legislative  and  judicial  functions;  who  has  refused 
to  execute  the  laws ;  who  has  used  his  high  office  to  in 
duce  other  officers  to  ignore  and  violate  the  laws ;  who 
has  employed  his  executive  powers  to  render  insecure 
the  property,  the  peace,  liberty  and  life  of  the  citizen ; 
who  has  abused  the  pardoning  power ;  who  has  de 
nounced  the  National  Legislature  as  unconstitutional ; 
who  has  persistently  and  corruptly  resisted,  by  every 
means  in  his  power,  every  proper  attempt  at  the  recon- 


Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax.  381 

struction  of  the  States  lately  in  rebellion ;  who  has  per 
verted  the  public  patronage  into  an  engine  of  wholesale 
corruption ;  and  who  has  been  justly  impeached  for  high 
crimes  and  misdemeanors,  and  properly  pronounced 
guilty  thereof  by  the  vote  of  thirty-five  Senators. 

"  IX.  The  doctrine  of  Great  Britain  and  other  Euro 
pean,  powers  that,  because  a  man  is  once  a  subject  he  is 
always  so,  must  be  resisted  at  every  hazard  by  the 
United  States,  as  a  relic  of  feudal  times,  not  authorized 
by  the  laws  of  nations,  and  at  war  with  our  national 
honor  and  independence.  Naturalized  citizens  are  enti 
tled  to  protection  in  all  their  rights  of  citizenship,  as 
though  they  were  native-born ;  and  no  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  native  or  naturalized,  must  be  liable  to 
arrest  and  imprisonment  by  any  foreign  power  for  acts 
done  or  words  spoken  in  this  country ;  and,  if  so  arrested 
and  imprisoned,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  in 
terfere  in  his  behalf. 

"  X.  Of  all  who  were  faithful  in  the  trials  of  the  late 
war,  there  were  none  entitled  to  more  especial  honor 
than  the  brave  soldiers  and  seamen  who  endured  the 
hardships  of  campaign  and  cruise,  and  imperilled  their 
lives  in  the  service  of  the  country ;  the  bounties  and 
pensions  provided  by  the  laws  for  these  brave  defenders 
of  the  nation  are  obligations  never  to  be  forgotten ;  the 
widows  and  orphans  of  the  gallant  dead  are  the  wards 
of  the  people — a  sacred  legacy  bequeathed  to  the  nation's 
protecting  care. 

"XI.  Foreign  immigration,  which  in  the  past  has 
added  so  much  to  the  wealth,  development  and  resources 
and  increase  of  power  to  this  republic,  the  asylum  of 
the  oppressed  of  all  nations,  should  be  fostered  and 
encouraged  by  a  liberal  and  j  ust  policy. 


382  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"XII.  This  Convention  declares  itself  in  sympathy 
with  all  oppressed  peoples  struggling  for  their  rights. 

% 

"  Unanimously  added,  on  motion  of  General  Schurz : 

"Resolved,  That  we  highly  commend  the  spirit  of 
magnanimity  and  forbearance  with  which  men  who  have 
served  in  the  Kebellion,  but  who  now  frankly  and  hon 
estly  co-operate  with  us  in  restoring  the  peace  of  the 
country  and  reconstructing  the  Southern  State  Govern 
ments  upon  the  basis  of  Impartial  Justice  and  Equal 
Eights,  are  received  back  into  the  communion  of  the 
loyal  people ;  and  we  favor  the  removal  of  the  disquali 
fications  and  restrictions  imposed  upon  the  late  rebels  in 
the  same  measure  as  their  spirit  of  loyalty  will  direct, 
and  as  may  be  consistent  with  the  safety  of  the  loyal 
people. 

"Resolved,  That  we  recognize  the  great  principles  laid 
clown  in  the  immortal  Declaration  of  Independence,  as 
the  true  foundation  of  democratic  government ;  and  we 
hail  with  gladness  every  effort  toward  making  these 
principles  a  living  reality  on  every  inch  of  American 
soil." 

I 

The  nomination  by  this  Convention  of  General  Grant 
for  the  Presidency  was  but  the  ratification  of  that  which 
had  already  been  done  by  the  people  through  the  press, 
mass-meetings,  and  State  conventions.  The  only  divi 
sion  of  the  Convention  was  concerning  the  nomination 
of  the  Vice-President  It  was  altogether  contrary  to 
precedent  that  the  nomination  should  be  made  from  the 
same  section  of  country  from  which  the  nomination  for 
President  was  made.  General  Grant  was  from  Illinois. 
Mr.  Colfax  was  from  Indiana.  Other  distinguished  men 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  383 

were  urged  for  the  nomination  for  Yice-President,  not 
only  upon  the  ground  of  their  own  abilities  and  services 
in  behalf  of  the  country,  but  also  upon  the  ground  that 
the  two  highest  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  people  ought 
not  to  be  conferred  upon  men  from  the  same  section  of 
the  country.  Mr.  Colfax  had,  however,  been  put  in 
nomination  by  the  convention  of  his  own  and  several 
other  States;  and  it  soon  became  evident  upon  the  bal- 
lotting  that  no  other  man  could  command  a  majority  of 
the  votes  of  the  Convention.  His  nomination  was  upon 
the  fifth  ballot,  and  immediately  made  unanimous. 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

RECEPTION"  OF  THE  NOMINATIONS  BY  THE  COUNTRY- 
FILIAL  REGARD — SERENADE  SPEECH  OF  MR.  COLFAX, 
MAY  22,  1868 — RESPONSE  TO  COMMITTEE  OF  CON- 
VENTION — LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE — PILLARS  IN  OUR 
TEMPLE  OF  LIBERTY — OUR  COUNTRY'S  FUTURE — CON 
CLUSION. 

THE  telegraph  at  once  flashed  through  all  the  land 
the  tidings  of  the  nominations.  They  were  every 
where  hailed  with  delight  and  enthusiasm,  and  as  pledges 
of  a  glorious  victory  in  the  great  political  conflict  of 
the  year. 

A  despatch  to  Mr.  Colfax  very  soon  after  his  nomina 
tion  was  made,  announced  it  to  him.  He  was  surrounded 
by  his  associates  at  the  Capitol,  and  their  warm  congratu 
lations  were  poured  upon  him.  But  in  apparent  forget- 


384  Life  of  Schuykr  Coif  ax. 

fulness  of  himself,  he  immediately  gave  the  despatch  to 
a  messenger  to  take  to  his  mother  at  the  other  end  of 
the  Avenue,  remarking,  "I  know  she  is  anxious  to  hear 
the  result."  This  little  incident  of  the  filial  regard  of 
Schuyler  Colfax  for  his  mother  reveals  a  feature  of  his 
character,  which  has  pervaded  his  life  from  childhood, 
and  has  shed  a  lustre  upon  the  qualities  which  have 
given  him  distinction  and  honor  among  men.  It  has 
been  a  theme  which  has  frequently  elicited  the  praise 
and  admiration  of  letter-writers  from  Washington. 

Upon  the  night  succeeding  the  day  of  their  nomination 
by  the  Chicago  convention,  General  Grant  and  Speaker 
Colfax  were,  each  of  them,  serenaded  at  their  residences 
in  Washington,  and  called  out  to  address  the  people. 
The  following  was  the  response  of  Mr.  Colfax  to  the 
calls  of  the  assemblage  that  had  gathered  before  his 
dwelling : 

SERENADE  SPEECH,  MAY  22,  1868. 

"  MY  FRIENDS  :  I  thank  you  with  all  the  emotions  of 
a  grateful  heart,  for  this  flattering  manifestation  of  your 
confidence  and  regard,  and  I  congratulate  you  on  the 
auspicious  opening  of  the  eventful  campaign  on  which 
we  are  entering.  In  the  Chicago  Convention,  represent 
ing  the  entire  area  of  the  Eepublic,  every  State,  every 
territory,  every  district,  and  every  delegate,  from  ocean 
to  ocean,  declared  that  their  first  and  only  choice  for 
President  was  Ulysses  S.  Grant.  [Great  applause.] 
Brave  and  yet  unassuming,  reticent  and  yet,  when  neces 
sary,  firm  as  the  eternal  hills,  [applause,]  with  every 
thought,  and  hope,  and  aspiration,  for  his  country,  with 
modesty  only  equalled  by  his  merits,  it  is  not  extrava 
gant  for  me  to  say  that  he  is  to-day,  of  all  other  men  in 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  385 

the  land,  first  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts 
of  his  countrymen.  [Great  applause.]  His  name  is  the 
very  synonym  of  victory,  and  he  will  lead  the  Union 
hosts  to  triumph  at  the  polls,  as  he  led  the  Union  armies 
to  triumph  in  the  field. 

"  But  greater  even  than  the  conqueror  of  Yicksburg 
and  the  destroyer  of  the  rebellion  is  the  glorious  inspira 
tion  of  our  noble  principles.  We  proclaim  the  sublime 
truths  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  our 
banner  bears  an  inscription  more  magnetic  than  the 
names  of  its  standard-bearers,  which  the  whole  world 
can  see  as  it  floats  to  the  breeze — '  Liberty  and  Loyalty, 
Justice  and  Public  Safety.* 

Defying  all  prejudices,  we  are  for  uplifting  the  lowly 
and  protecting  the  oppressed.  [Applause.]  History 
records,  to  the  immortal  honor  of  our  organization,  that 
it  saved  a  nation  and  emancipated  a  race.  We  struck 
the  fetter  from  the  limbs  of  the  slave,  and  lifted  millions 
into  the  glorious  sunlight  of  liberty.  We  placed  the 
emancipated  slave  on  his  feet,  as  a  man,  and  put  into  his 
right  hand  the  ballot  to  protect  his  manhood  and  his 
rights.  We  staked  our  political  existence  on  the  recon 
struction  of  the  revolted  States,  on  the  sure  and  eternal 
corner-stone  of  loyalty,  and  we  shall  triumph.  I  know 
there  is  no  holiday  contest  before  us ;  but  with  energy 
and  zeal,  with  principles  that  humanity  approves,  and 
that  I  believe  God  will  bless,  we  shall  go  through  the 
contest,  conquering  and  to  conquer,  and  on  the  fourth  day 
of  March  next  the  people's  champion  will  be  borne  by  _ 
the  people's  vote  to  yonder  White  House,  that,  I  regret 
to  say,  is  now  dishonored  by  its  unworthy  occupant. 
Then,  with  peace  and  confidence,  we  may  expect  our 
beloved  country  to  enter  upon,  a  career  of  prosperity 


386  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

exceeding  the  most  brilliant  triumphs  of  our  past.    I 
bid  you  God-speed  in  this  work,  and  now  good-night." 

On  the  29th  of  May,  Mr.  Colfax  was  formally  informed 
by  the  Committee  appointed  by  the  Chicago  convention 
of  his  nomination  for  Yice-President.  The  following 
was  his  reply  to  General  Hawley,  Chairman  of  the  Com 
mittee,  and  the  President  of  the  Convention  : 

"  MB.  PRESIDENT  HAWLEY  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  History 
has  already  proclaimed  that  the  victories  of  the  party  you 
represent  during  the  recent  war,  always  gave  increased 
hope  and  confidence  to  the  nation,  while  its  reverses  and 
defeats  ever  increased  the  national  peril.  It  is  no  light 
tribute,  therefore,  to  the  millions  of  Republicans  in  the 
forty-two  States  and  Territories  represented  in  the  Chi 
cago  Convention,  that  our  organization  has  been  so  in 
separably  interwoven  with  the  best  interests  of  the 
Republic  that  the  triumphs  and  reverses  of  the  one  have 
been  the  triumphs  and  reverses  of  the  other.  Since  the 
General  of  our  armies  with  his  heroic  followers  crushed 
the  rebellion,  the  key-note  of  its  policy,  that  loyalty 
should  govern  what  loyalty  preserved,  has  been  worthy 
of  its  honored  record  in  the  war.  Cordially  agreeing 
with  the  platform  adopted  by  its  national  Convention, 
and  the  resolutions  thereto  attached,  I  accept  the  nomi 
nation  with  which  I  have  been  honored,  and  will  here 
after  communicate  that  acceptance  to  you  in  the  more 
formal  manner  that  usage  requires." 

Upon  the  next  day  the  following  letter  was  sent  to 
General  Hawley: 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  387 

LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

"  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  May  SO,  1868. 
"HoN.  J.  E.  HAWLEY, 

"  President  of  the  National  Union  Republican  Convention : 

"DEAR  SIR:  The  platform  adopted  by  the  patriotic 
Convention  over  which  you  presided,  and  the  resolutions 
which  so  happily  supplement  it,  so  entirely  agree  with 
my  views  as  to  a  just  national  policy,  that  my  thanks 
are  due  to  the  delegates,  as  much  for  this  clear  and 
auspicious  declaration  of  principles  as  for  the  nomina 
tion  with  which  I  have  been  honored,  and  which  I 
gratefully  accept. 

"  When  a  great  rebellion,  which  imperilled  the  national 
existence,  was  at  last  overthrown,  the  duty  of  all  others 
devolving  on  those  intrusted  with  the  responsibility 
of  legislation  evidently  was  to  require  that  the  revolted 
States  should  be  readmitted  to  a  participation  in  the 
Government  against  which  they  had  warred,  only  on 
such  a  basis  as  to  increase  and  fortify,  not  to  weaken  or 
endanger,  the  strength  and  power  of  the  nation.  Cer 
tainly  no  one  ought  to  have  claimed  that  they  should 
be  readmitted  under  such  rule  that  their  organization 
as  States  could  ever  again  be  used,  as  at  the  opening  of 
the  war,  to  defy  the  national  authority,  or  to  destroy 
the  national  unity.  This  principle  has  been  the  pole- 
star  of  those  who  have  inflexibly  insisted  on  the  Con 
gressional  policy  which  your  Convention  so  cordially 
indorsed. 

"Baffled  by  Executive  opposition  and  by  the  per 
sistent  refusals  to  accept  any  plan  of  reconstruction 
proposed  by  Congress,  justice  and  public  safety  at  last 


388  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax 

combined  to  teach  us  that  only  by  an  enlargement  of 
the  suffrage  in  those  States  could  the  desired  end  be 
attained,  and  that  it  was  even  more  safe  to  give  the 
ballot  to  those  who  love  the  Union  than  to  those  who 
had  sought  ineffectually  to  destroy  it.  The  assured 
success  of  this  legislation  is  being  written  on  the  ada 
mant  of  history,  and  will  be  our  triumphant  vindication. 
More  clearly,  too,  than  ever  before  does  the  nation  now 
recognize  that  the  greatest  glory  of  a  Republic  is  that  it 
throws  the  shield  of  its  protection  over  the  humblest 
and  weakest  of  its  people,  and  vindicates  the  right  of 
the  poor  and  the  powerless  as  faithfully  as  those  of  the 
rich  and  the  powerful. 

"I  rejoice,  too,  in  this  connection,  to  find  in  your 
platform  the  frank  and  fearless  avowal  that  our  natu 
ralized  citizens  must  be  protected  abroad  at  every 
hazard,  as  though  they  were  native-born.  Our  whole 
people  are  foreigners  or  descendants  of  foreigners.  Our 
fathers  established  by  arms  their  right  to  be  called  a 
nation.  It  remains  for  us  to  establish  the  right  to 
welcome  to  our  shores  all  who  are  willing,  by  oaths  of 
allegiance,  to  become  American  citizens.  Perpetual 
allegiance,  as  claimed  abroad,  is  only  another  name  for 
perpetual  bondage,  and  would  make  all  slaves  to  the  soil 
where  first  they  saw  the  light.  Our  national  cemeteries 
prove  how  faithfully  these  oaths  of  fidelity  to  their 
adopted  land  have  been  sealed  in  the  life-blood  of  thou 
sands  upon  thousands.  Should  we  not  then  be  faithless 
to  the  dead  if  we  did  not  protect  their  living  brethren 
in  the  full  enjoyment  of  that  nationality  for  which,  side 
by  side  with  the  native-born,  our  soldiers  of  foreign 
birth  laid  down  their  lives  ? 

"  It  was  fitting,  too,  that  the  representatives  of  a  party 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  389 

which  had  proved  so  true  to  national  duty  in  time  of 
war  should  speak  so  clearly  in  time  of  peace  for  the 
maintenance  untarnished  of  the  national  honor,  national 
credit,  and  good  faith  as  regards  its  debt— the  cost  of  our 
national  existence. 

"  I  do  not  need  to  extend  this  reply  by  further  comment 
on  a  platform  which  has  elicited  such  hearty  approval 
throughout  the  land.  The  debt  of  gratitude  it  acknowl 
edges  to  the  brave  men  who  saved  the  Union  from 
destruction ;  the  frank  approval  of  amnesty,  based  on 
repentance  and  loyalty ;  the  demand  for  the  most  rigid 
economy  and  honesty  in  the  Government;  the  sympathy 
of  the  party  of  liberty  with  all  throughout  the  world  who 
long  for  the  liberty  we  here  enjoy  ;  and  the  recognition 
of  the  sublime  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence,  are  worthy  of  the  organization  on  whose  banners 
they  are  to  be  written  in  the  coming  contest.  Its  past 
record  cannot  be  blotted  out  or  forgotten.  If  there  had 
been  no  Eepublican  party,  slavery  would  to-day  cast  its 
baleful  shadow  over  the  Republic.  If  there  had  been  no 
Republican  party,  free  press  and  free  speech  would  be 
as  unknown  from  the  Potomac  to  the  Rio  Grande  as  ten 
years  ago.  If  the  Republican  party  could  have  been 
stricken  from  existence  when  the  banner  of  rebellion 
was  unfurled,  arid  when  the  response  of  'no  coercion J 
was  heard  at  the  North,  we  would  have  had  no  nation 
to-day.  But  for  the  Republican  party,  daring  to  risk 
the  odium  of  tax  and  draft  laws,  our  flag  could  not  have 
been  kept  flying  in  the  field  until  the  long-hoped-for 
'  victory  came.  "Without  a  Republican  party  the  Civil 
Rights  Bill — the  guarantee  of  equality  under  the  law  to 
the  humble  and  defenceless  as  well  as  to  the  strong — 

would  not  be  to-day  upon  our  national  statute-book. 
24 


390  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

"With  such  inspiration  from  the  past,  and  following 
the  example  of  the  founders  of  the  Eepublic,  who  called 
the  victorious  General  of  the  Revolution  to  preside  over 
the  land  his  triumphs  had  saved  from  its  enemies,  I  can 
not  doubt  that  our  labors  will  be  crowned  with  success. 
And  it  will  be  a  success  that  shall  bring  restored  hope, 
confidence,  prosperity,  and  progress,  South  as  well  as 
North,  West  as  well  as  East,  and  above  all,  the  blessings 
under  Providence  of  National  Concord  and  Peace. 

"  Very  truly  yours, 

"  SCHUYLER  GOLF  AX." 

General  Grant  is  the  embodiment  of  the  virtues  of  the 
soldier,  Speaker  Colfax  of  the  virtues  of  civil  wisdom. 
As  the  pillars  Jachin  and  Boaz  in  Solomon's  temple 
were  not  only  marvellous  in  beauty  and  glory,  but  the 
pillars  of  its  strength — these  names,  beautiful  and  glo 
rious  in  fame,  are  now  the  pillars  of  strength  in  our 
temple  of  liberty. 

The  life  of  Mr.  Colfax,  traced  through  a  rigid  narra 
tive  of  facts,  is  seen  to  have  been  unfolded  from  the 
germ  of  principle.  It  has  been  beautiful  in  its  growth  and 
symmetrical  in  its  development.  No  internal  weakness 
has  permitted  it  to  be  marred  in  any  of  its  parts ;  no  ex 
ternal  force  has  succeeded  in  rending  away  from  it  any 
of  its  extending  glory ;  striking  its  roots  down  in  rugged 
places,  and  growing  to  its  height  amid  storm  and  tempest, 
it  has  yet  been  like  a  tree  planted  by  the  rivers  of  water, 
with  unfading  leaf  and  yielding  its  fruit  in  its  season. 
Such  a  life  reflects  the  glory  of  our  Republican  in 
stitutions  ;  and  as  an  ensample,  it  is  a  beacon  of  hope  to 
every  youth  in  the  land. 

"In   the   cheerful  face  of  the  next  Yice-President," 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  391 

writes  one,  "every  young  man  feels  his  aspirations  re 
flected.  The  grandson  of  the  guardsman  over  the  tent 
of  Washington,  he  is  properly  placed  on  the  banners  of 
the  New  Republic  with  the  hero  of'  the  war  for  the 
Union.  Ef  ery  widow  and  every  widow's  son  will  feel  in 
sympathy  with  Schuyler  Colfax,  whose  obedient  face  is 
endeared  to  his  mother  as  to  his  country.  Every  large 
and  temperate  patriotism  will  see  in  Colfax  a  bright  star 
still  ascendant,  rising  as  upon  the  steps  of  the  Capitol 
from  noble  to  nobler  use." 

Upon  June  9th,  1868,  in  the  Capitol  of  the  nation,  the 
strange  sight  was  seen  of  the  reception  of  an  imposing 
embassy  from  the  Celestial  Empire,  the  first  of  its  kind 
to  the  civilized  world  from  that  government  of  hundreds 
of  millions  of  people,  which  has  endured  through  so 
many  of  the  ages  of  the  world,  and  is  so  rich  and  unique 
in  its  products  and  arts.  The  strange  scene  and  the 
words  of  welcome  addressed  to  the  embassy  by  the 
Speaker  of  the  House,  awaken  thronging  thoughts  of 
the  wonderful  future  of  our  country.  The  following  were 
the  words  of  the  Speaker  upon  the  occasion : 

"YouR  EXCELLENCIES:  The  House  of  Representa 
tives  intermits  its  ordinary  labors  to-day  to  receive  in 
this  hall  the  Embassy  which  the  oldest  nation  of  the 
world  has  commissioned  to  America  and  Europe ;  and, 
in  the  name  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  we  bid 
you  welcome.  Spanning  a  continent  in  our  area,  from 
the  Bay  of  Fundy  to  the  granite  portals  of  the  Golden 
Gate,  we  turn  our  faces  from  the  fatherland  of  Europe 
to  clasp  hands,  in  closer  relations  than  ever  before,  with 
those  who  come  to  us  from  that  continent  which  was  the 
birth-place  of  mankind.  Nor  does  it  lessen  our  pleasure 


392  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

that  the  chief  of  this  Embassy,  transferred,  as  he  was, 
from  membership  here  to  diplomatic  duties  abroad,  so 
won  the  confidence  of  his  Imperial  Majesty,  to  whom  he 
was  accredited,  that  he  returns  to  our  midst  honored, 
with  his  distinguished  associates,  as  the  custodians  of  the 
most  remarkable  trust  ever  committed  by  an  Emperor 
to  his  Envoys. 

"  This  Embassy  of  the  Chinese  Empire,  which  has  at 
tracted  such  universal  attention,  has  been  hailed  through 
out  our  land,  not  only  as  marking  an  onward  step  in  the 
world's  history,  but  as  being  of  peculiar  interest  to  this 
Eepublic.  With  our  Western  States  fronting  the  same 
Pacific  sea  on  which  the  millions  of  China  have  looked, 
ages  before  our  country  was  born  into  the  family  of  na 
tions — with  our  Pacific  Eailroad  rapidly  approaching 
completion,  and  destined,  with  the  steamers  plying  from 
its  termini,  east  and  west,  to  become  the  highway  of  com 
merce  between  Asia  and  Europe — with  our  possessions 
on  the  Pacific  slope,  nearest  of  all  the  great  nations  to 
the  Empire  from  which  you  come,  we  hail  your  ap 
pearance  at  this  Capitol  as  the  augury  of  closer  com 
mercial  and  international  intercourse.  Wishing  you  as 
cordial  a  greeting  wherever  you  may  go,  on  the  Thames 
and  on  the  Seine,  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine,  the  Baltic 
and  the  Adriatic,  I  give  you  again  an  earnest  and  a 
heartfelt  welcome." 

If,  as  a  people,  we  are  true  to  the  principles  of  our 
iathers  and  the  principles  of  righteousness  by  which 
the  Most  High  governs  the  nations  of  the  earth,  who 
can  tell  what  shall  be  the  greatness  and  the  glory  of 
this  land  of  ours,  so  vast  in  its  area,  so  situated  amid 
the  great  waters  and  continents  of  the  globe,  the  destined 


Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax.  393 

highway  of  Europe  and  the  Far  East  ?  The  life  of  Mr. 
Colfax  throughout  has  been  pervaded  with  those  princi 
ples.  And  we  have  no  more  fitting  conclusion  for  this 
volume  than  words  of  his,  referring,  in  a  speech  at  Lan 
sing,  Michigan,  June,  1867,  to  the  motto  inscribed,  by 
the  policy  of  Congress,  upon  the  banner  of  the  land : 
"Justice  for  all  men  in  this  American  Republic." 

"  I  believe  that  God,  who  sitteth  upon  the  Throne,  who 
is  the  friend  of  the  oppressed  and  the  enemy  of  the  op 
pressor,  will,  as  He  looks  down  upon  this  land  which  He 
has  so  peculiarly  favored  with  the  thronging  triumphs 
of  the  past,  bless  us  as  we  rally  around  that  principle 
and  incorporate  it,  too,  in  our  national,  supreme  law. 
And  then,  standing  proudly  eminent  above  the  nations 
of  the  Old  World,  the  despotisms  which,  I  trust,  are 
weakening,  thank  God,  in  this  day  of  liberty,  of  light 
and  of  progress,  we  can  invite  them  to  look  upon  this  Re 
public  of  ours,  where  from  shore  to  shore  there  shall  be 
no  man  so  humble,  no  man  so  down- trodden,  no  man  so 
despised,  no  man  so  oppressed,  but  that  he  can  point  to 
our  National  Banner  and  say :  '  Poor  though  I  am  in  all 
things  else,  that  is  my  birthright ;  that  is  my  shield.' 

u  And  the  American  people,  having  thus  consummated 
this  great  work  of  reconstruction,  following  appropriately 
upon  the  victory  won  by  our  national  armies;  having 
established  this  nation  upon  these  eternal  and  immutable 
principles  of  liberty  and  justice  to  all,  I  look  forward 
to  a  prosperity  awaiting  us,  more  brilliant  than  all  our 
glorious  history  in  the  past ;  not  confined  to  us  of  the 
North,  not  confined  to  us  of  the  West,  but  in  which  the, 
South  shall  fully  and  richly  share.  When  the  Southern 
people  yield  themselves  honestly  and  in  good  faith  to 
those  demands  upon  which,  as  security  for  the  future, 
security  for  the  Union,  security  for  all  its  people — the 


394  Life  of  Schuyler  Coif  ax. 

loyal  and  victorious  portion  of  this  Republic  have  a 
right  to  insist;  when  they  cultivate  a  devotion  to  the 
Union,  instead  of  the  lost  cause;  and  reconcile  them 
selves  to  the  new  system  of  industry,  by  which  the  land, 
which  has  been  poisoned  by  the  sweat  of  unpaid  labor, 
shall  bloom  and  blossom  under  the  energy  and  vigor  of 
labor  remunerated  and  made  honorable,  I  look  to  see  a 
new  and  brighter  era  open  upon  the  South.  With  a 
more  genial  climate  than  we  have  in  the  colder  North ; 
with  a  wider  range  of  production,  for  they  have  indi 
genous  to  their  soil  the  great  staples  of  the  world,  cotton, 
tobacco,  sugar  and  rice ;  with  water-power  exhaustless, 
though  yet  unimproved,  leaping  down  from  the  mountain 
sides  to  the  sea,  marking  the  future  locations  of  teem 
ing  and  busy  industrial  manufactories ;  the  regenerated 
South,  with  its  loins  girt  anew  for  the  race  of  progress 
and  prosperity,  will  rival  us  in  our  march  to  wealth  and 
greatness  and  power.  Then,  when  to  North  and  to  South 
alike,  the  wrongs  and  oppressions  of  the  past  shall  seem 
as  a  horrid  dream;  when  your  children  will  ask  you 
with  wonder,  whether  it  was  possible  that  in  years  gone 
by,  men  were  mobbed,  and  tarred  and  feathered,  and 
hung,  for  simply  saying  that  they  preferred  liberty  to 
slavery  in  the  United  States,  and  when  you  will  confess 
to  them  that  this  was  really  so  in  the  darker  days  of  the 
Eepublic;  then,  in  the  brighter  light  of  liberty  and 
justice,  North  and  South  shall  go  together,  clasped  hand 
in  hand,  rivals  only  in  the  triumphal  march  of  national 
progress,  united  with  one  heart  in  the  great  work  of 
making  this  Republic  the  noblest,  the  purest,  the  truest, 
as  it  will  be  the  richest  land  beneath  the  circuit  of  the 
sun." 

THE    EXD. 


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&&*  TERMS :  To  those  with  whom  we  hare  no  monthly  account,  Cash  with  Order. 


MRS.  ANN  S.  STEPHENS'  WORKS. 


The  Wife's  Secret, $1  50 

The  Rejected  Wife, 1  50 

Fashion  and  Famine, 1  50 

The  Old  Homestead, 1  50 

1  50 


Mabel's  Mistake, $1  50 

Doubly  False, 1  50 

The  Soldiers' Orphans, 1  50 

Silent  Struggles, 1  50 

The  Heiress, 1  50  |  Mary  Derwont, 1.50  |  The  Gold  Brick,. 

The  above  are  each  in  paper  cover,  or  in  cloth,  price  $1.75  each. 

MRS.  E.  D.  E.  N.  SOUTHWORTH'S  WORKS. 

The  Widow's  Son, $1  50 

The  Bride  of  Llewellyn, 1 

The  Fortune  Seeker, 1 

Allworth  Abbey, 1 

The  Bridal  Eve, 1 

The  Fatal  Marriage, 1 


50 
50 
50 
50 
50 

Haunted  Homestead, 1  50 

The  Lost  Heiress, 1  50 

Lady  of  the  Isle, 1  50 

The  Two  Sisters, 1  50 

The  Three  Beauties, 1  50 


Vivia ;  or  the  Secret  of  Power, 

Love's  Labor  Won, 

Deserted  Wife, 

The  Gipsy's  Prophecy, 

The  Mother-in-Law, 

The  Missing  Bride, 

Wife's  Victory, 

Retribution, 

India ;  Pearl  of  Pearl  River,.. 
Curse  of  Clifton, 


The  above  are  each  in  paper  cover,  or  in  cloth,  price  $1.75  each. 
Hickory  Hall, 50  |  Broken  Engagement, 


25 


MRS.   CAROLINE  LEE  HENTZ'S  WORKS. 


The  Planter's  Northern  Bride,..  1  50 
Linda  ;  or,  the  Young  Pilot  of 

the  Belle  Creole, 1  50 

Robert  Graham.  The  Sequel 

to  "Linda," 1  50 

Courtship  and  Marriage, 1  50 

Ernest  Linwood, 1  50 

Marcus  Warland, 1  50 


Rena ;  or,  the  Snow-bird, 1  50 

The  Lost  Daughter, 1  50 

Love  after  Marriage, 1  50 

Eoline;  or,  Magnolia  Vale,....  1  50 

The  Banished  Son, 1  50 

Helen  and  Arthur, 1  50 

Forsaken  Daughter, 1  50 

Planter's   Daughter,...  ..  1  50 


The  above  are  each  in  paper  cover,  or  in  cloth,  price  $1.75  each. 

FREDERIKA  BREMER'S  WORKS. 

Father  and  Daughter, 1  50  i  The  Neighbors, 1  50 

The  Four  Sisters, 1  50  |  The  Home, 1  50 

The  above  are  each  in  paper  cover,  or  in  cloth,  price  $1.75  each. 

Life  in  the  Old  World ;   or,  Two  Years  in  Switzerland  and  Italy. 
By  Miss  Bremer,  in  two  volumes,  cloth,  price, $3.50 


Books    sent,  postage  paid,  on  receipt  of  the  Retail 
T.  B.   Peterson  &  Brothers,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


Price,  by 

(1) 


2    T.  B.  PETERSON  &  BROTHERS'  PUBLICATIONS. 
CHARLES     DICKENS'     WORKS. 

JS-GKEAT    SEDUCTION    IN    THEIR    PRICES.  -®H 


PEOPLE'S  DUODECIMO  EDITION.    ILLUSTRATED. 

Reduced  in  price  from  $2.50  to  $1.50  a  volume. 

TJtia  edition  is  printed  on  fine  paper,  from  large,  clear  type,  leaded,  that 
all  can  read,  containing  One  Hundred  and  Eighty  Illustrations  on  tinted 
•paper,  and  each  book  is  complete  in  one  large  duodecimo  volume. 


Our  Mutual  Friend, Cloth,  $1.50 

Pickwick  Papers, Cloth,    1.50 

Nicholas  Nickleby, Cloth,    1.50 


Great  Expectations, Cloth, 

David  Copperfield, Cloth, 

Oliver  Twist, Cloth, 

Bleak  House, Cloth, 

A  Tale  of  Two  Cities,.... Cloth, 


Little  Dorrit, Cloth,  $1.50 

Dombey  and  Son, Cloth,  1.50 

Christinas  Stories, Cloth,  1.50 

Sketches  by"Boz," Cloth,  1.50 

Barnaby  Rudge, Cloth,  1.50 

Martin  Chuzzlewit, Cloth,  .50 

Old  Curiosity  Shop, Cloth,  .50 

Dickens'  New  Stories,... .Cloth,  .50 


American  Notes;  and  The  Uncommercial  Traveler, Cloth,      .50 

Hunted  Down;  and  other  Reprinted  Pieces, Cloth,      .50 

The  Holly-Tree  Inn;  and  other  Stories, Cloth,      .50 

Price  of  a  set,  in  Black  cloth,  in  nineteen  volumes, $28.00 

"        "         Full  sheep,  Library  style, 38.00 

«        "         Half  calf,  sprinkled  edges, 47.00 

"         «          Half  calf,  marbled  edges, 53.00 

"         "          Half  calf,  antique, 57.00 

"        "         Half  calf,  full  gilt  backs,  etc., 57.00 

ILLUSTRATED  DUODECIMO  EDITION. 

Reduced  in  price  from  $2.00  to  $1.50  a  volume. 

This  edition  is  printed  on  the  finest  paper,  from  large,  clear  type,  leaded, 
Long  Primer  in  size,  that  all  can  read,  the  whole  containing  near  Six 
Hundred  full  page  Illustrations,  printed  on  tinted  paper,  from  designs  by 
Gfuikshank,  Phiz,  Browne,  Maclise,  McLenan,  and  other  artists.  The  fol 
lowing  books  are  each  contained  in  two  volume*. 


Our  Mutual  Friend, Cloth,  $3.00 

Pickwick  Papers Cloth,  3.00 

Tale  of  Two  Cities, Cloth,  3.00 

Nicholas  Nickleby. Cloth,  3.00 

David  Copperfield, Cloth,  3.00 

Oliver  Twist, Cloth,  3.00 

Christmas  Stories, Cloth,  3.00 


Bleak  House, Cloth,  $3.00 

Sketches  by  "  Boz," Cloth,  3.00 

Barnaby  Rudge, Cloth,  3.00 

Martin  Chuzzlewit, Cloth,  3.00 

Old  Curiosity  Shop, Cloth,  3.00 

Little  Dorrit Cloth,  3.00 

Dombey  and  Son, Cloth,  3.00 


The  following  are  each  complete  in  one  volume,  and  are  reduced  in  price 
from  $2.50  to  $1.50  a  volume. 

Great  Expectations, Cloth,  $1.50  |  Dickens' New  Stories,  ...Cloth,  $1.50 

American  Notes;  and  The  Uncommercial  Traveler, Cloth,     1.50 

Hunted  Down;  and  other  Reprinted   Pieces, Cloth,    1.50 

The  Holly-Tree  Inn  ;  and  other  Stories, Cloth,    1.50 

.-'rice  of  a  set,  in  thirty-three  volumes,  bound  in  cloth, $49.00 

"        "         Full  sheep,  Library  style, 66.00 

«         "          Half  calf,  antique, 99.00 

"        "         Half  calf,  full  gilt  backs,  etc., 99-00 


Books  sent,  postage   paid,  on  receipt  of  the  Retail  Price,  by 
T.  B.  Potersoa    &   Brothers,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


T.  B.  PETERSON  &  BROTHERS'  PUBLICATIONS.    3 


CHARLES  DICKENS'   WORKS. 

ILLUSTRATED  OCTAVO  EDITION. 

Reduced  in  price  from  $2.50  to  $2.00  a  vohime. 

This  edition  is  printed  from  large  type,  double  column,  octavo  page,  each 
book  being  complete  in  one  volume,  the  whole  containing  near  Six  Hundred 
Illustrations,  by  Cruikshank,  Phiz,  Browne,  Maclise,  and  other  artists. 


David  Copperfield, Cloth,  $2.00 

Barnaby  Rudge, Cloth,  2.00 

Martin  Chuzzlewit, Cloth,  2.00 

Old  Curiosity  Shop, Cloth,  2.00 

Christmas  Stories, Cloth,  2.00 

Dickens'  New  Stories,...Cloth,  2.00 

A  Tale  of  Two  Cities,. ..Cloth,  2.00 
American  Notes  and 

Pic-Nic  Papers, Cloth, 


2.00 


Our  Mutual  Friend, Cloth,  $2.00 

Pickwick  Papers, Cloth,     2.00 

Nicholas  Nickleby, Cloth,     2.00 

Groat  Expectations, Cloth,     2.00 

Lamplighter's  Story,.... Cloth,     2.00 

Oliver  Twist, Cloth,     2.00 

Bleak  House, Cloth,     2.00 

Little  Dorrit, Cloth,     2.00 

Dombey  and  Son, Cloth,     2.00 

Sketches  by  "  Boz," Cloth,     2.00 

Price  of  a  set,  in  Black  cloth,  in  eighteen  volumes, $36.00 

"  "  Full  sheep,  Library  style, 45.00 

"  "  Half  calf,  sprinkled  edges, 55.00 

"  "  Half  calf,  marbled  edges, 62.00 

"  "  Half  calf,  antique, 70.00 

"  "  Half  calf,  full  gilt  backs,  etc., 70.00 

THE  "NEW  NATIONAL  EDITION." 

This  is  the  cheapest  complete  edition  of  the  works  of  Charles  Dickens, 
"  Boz,"  published  in  the  world,  being  contained  in  seven  large  octavo  vol 
umes,  with  a  portrait  of  Charles  Dickens,  and  other  illustrations,  tho  whole 
making  nearly  six  thousand  very  large  double  columned  pages,  in  large,  clear 
type,  and  handsomely  printed  on  fine  white  paper,  and  bound  in  the 
strongest  and  most  substantial  manner. 

Price  of  a  set,  in  Black  cloth,  in  seven  volumes, $20.00 

"  "         Full  sheep,  Library  style, 25.00 

"  "         Half  calf,  antique, 30. 00 

"  "        Half  calf,  full  gilt  back,  etc., 30.00 

CHEAP  SALMON  PAPER  COVER  EDITION. 
Each  book  being  complete  in  one  large  octavo  volume. 

Pickwick  Papers 25 

Nicholas  Nickleby, 25 

Dombey  and  Son, 25 

David  Copperfield, 25 

Martin  Chuzzlewit 25 

Old  Curiosity  Shop, 25 

Oliver  Twist, 25 

American  Notes, 25 

Great  Expectations, 25 

Hard  Times,...  25 


A  Tale  of  Two  Cities, 25 


Somebody's  Luggage,.... 


25 


Message  from  the  Sea, 25 

Barnaby  Rudge, 25 


Christmas  Stories, 25 

Tho  Haunted  House, 25 

Uncommercial  Traveler, 25 

A  House  to  Let, 25 

Perils  of  English  Prisoners, 25 

Wreck  of  the  Golden  Mary, 25 

Torn  Tiddler's  Ground, 25 

Our  Mutual  Friend, IJ5 

Bleak  House, 35 

Little  Dorrit, 35 


Joseph  Griinaldi, 50 

The  Pic-Nic  Papers, 50 

No  Thoroughfare 10 

Hunted  Down, 25 

The  Holly-Tree  Inn, 25 


Sketches  by  "Boz," 25 

Mrs.  Lirriper's  Lodgings  and  Mrs.  Lirriper's  Legacy, 25 

Mugby  Junction  and  Dr.  Marigold's  Prescriptions, 25 

lUT  Books  sent,  postage  paid,  on  receipt  of  the  Retail   Price,  by 
T.  B.  Peterson  &  Brothers,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


4  T.  B.  PETERSON  &  BROTHERS'  PUBLICATIONS. 
BEST  COOK  BOOKS  PUBLISHED. 

Mrs.  Goodfellow's  Cookery  as  it  Should  Be, Cloth,  $1  75 

Petersons'  New  Cook  Book, Cloth,     1  75 

Miss  Leslie's  New  Cookery  Book, Cloth,     1  75 

Widdineld's  New  Cook  Book, ; Cloth,     1  75 

The  National  Cook  Book.     By  a  Practical  Housewife, Cloth,     1  75 

The  Family  Save-All.    By  author  of  "  National  Cook  Book,".Cloth,     .1  75 

Mrs.  Hale's  Receipts  for  the  Million, Cloth,     1  75 

Miss  Leslie's  New  Receipts  for  Cooking, Cloth,     1  75 

Mrs.  Kale's  New  Cook  Book, Cloth,     1  75 

Francatelli's   Celebrated  Cook  Book.      The    Modern   Cook.      With 
Sixty-two  illustrations,  600  large  octavo  pages, Cloth,     5  00 

WORKS  BY  THE  VERY  BEST   AUTHORS. 

Marietta.     By  T.  A.  Trollope,  author  of  "Gemma," $1  50 

The  Initials.    A  Story  of  Modern  Life.     By  Baroness  Tautphoeus, ...  1  50 

Family  Pride.     By  author  of  "Pique,"  "Family  Secrets/' etc 1  50 

My  Son's  Wife.     By  author  of  "Caste,"  "Mr.Arle,"  etc 1  50 

Self-Sacrifice.     By  author  of  "Margaret  Maitland/' etc 1  50 

The  Rich  Husband. '   By  author  of  "  George  Geith," 1  50 

Colonel  John  W.  Forney's  Letters  from  Europe.     Bound  in  cloth,...  1  75 

Harem  Life  in  Egypt  and  Constantinople.     By  Emmcline  Lott, 1  50 

A  Woman's  Thoughs  about  Women.     By  Miss  Muloch, 1  50 

The  Rector's  Wife;  or,  the  Valley  of  a  Hundred  Fires, 1  50 

Woodburn  Grange.     A  Novel.     By  William  Howitt, 150 

Country  Quarters.     By  the  Countess  of  Blessington, 1  50 

Outof  the  Depths.     The  Story  of  a  "Woman's  Life," 1  50 

The  Coquette;  or,  Life  and  Letters  of  Eliza  Wharton, 1  50 

Flirtations  in  Fashionable  Life.     By  Catharine  Sinclair, 1  50 


Love  and  Duty, 1  50 

Bohemians  in  London, 1  50 

The  Man  of  the  World, 1  50 

High  Life  in  Washington, 1  50 

The  Jealous  Husband, 1'50 

Belle  of  Washington, 1  50 

Courtship  and  Matrimony, 1  50 

Family  Secrets, 1  50 

Rose  Douglas, 1  50 

The  Lover's  Trials '. 1  50 

Beautiful  Widow, 1  50 

Brother's  Secret, 1  50 

The  Matchmaker, ]  50 

Love  and  Money, 1  50 


Gemma.     By  T.  A.  Trollope,..  1  50 

The  Lost  Beauty, 1  50 

The  Rival  Belles, 1  50 

The  Lost  Love, 1  50 

The  Woman  in  Black, 1  50 

The  Pride  of  Life, 1  50 

The  Roman  Traitor, 1  50 

Saratoga.     A  Story  of  1787,...  1  50 

The  Queen's  Favorite, 1  50 

Married  at  Last, 1  50 

False  Pride, 1  50 

Self-Love, 1  50 

Cora  Belmont,  1  50 

The  Devoted  Bride, 1  50 

The  above  are  each  in  paper  cover,  or  in  cloth,  price  $1.75  each. 

Life  of  Hon.  Schuyler  Colfax.     By  Rev.  A.  Y.  Moore,  of  South  Bend, 
Indiana.     With  a  Portrait.     One  volume,  cloth,  price $1  50 

Comstock's  Elocution  and  Reader.    Enlarged.    By  Andrew  Comstock 
and  Philip  Lawrence.     With  236  Illustration!:.    Half  morocco, 2  00 

Comstock's  Colored  Chart.     Every  School  should  have  a  copy  of  it.. .5  00 

The  Story  of  Elizabeth.     By  Miss   Thackeray.     In    one   duodecimo  vol 
ume,  full  gilt  back.     Price  $1.00  in  paper,  or  $1.50  in  cloth. 

PETERSONS'  GREEN  CLOTH  EDITION   OF   DICKENS'  WORKS, 

Each  novel  of  this  edition  is  Illustrate^  and  bound  in  Green  Morocco 
Cloth,  at  $1.25  a  volume,  or  in  Green  Paper  cover,  sewed,  at  $1.00  each. 
"Our  Mutual  Friend,"  "  David  Coppevfield,"  "Great  Expectations," 
"  Tale  of  Two  Cities,"  "  Bleak  House,"  and  "  Little  Dorrit,"  are  now  ready. 

1^*  Books  sent,  postage  paid,  on  receipt  of  the  Eetail  Price,  by 
T.  B.  Peterson  &  Brothers,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


T.  B.  PETERSON  &  BROTHERS'  PUBLICATIONS.    5 


CHARLES  LEVER'S  BEST  WORKS. 


Charles  O'Malley, 75 

Harry  Lorrequer, 75 

Jack  Hinton, 75 

Tom  Burke  of  Ours, ...  75 


Knight  of  Gwynne,., 75 

Arthur  O'Leary, 75 

Con  Cregan, 75 

Davenport  Dunn, 75 


Above  are  each  in  paper,  or  finer  edition  in  cloth,  price  $2.00  each. 
Horace  Templeton, 75  |  Kate  O'Donoghue, 75 

MADAME  GEORGE  SAND'S  WORKS. 

Consuelo, 75 

Countess  of  Rudolstadt, 75 

First  and  True  Love, 75 

The  Corsair, 50 

Jealousy,               paper, 1  50 

Do.                   cloth, 1  75 


Fanchon,  the  Cricket,  paper,...  1  00 
Do.  do.       cloth,...  1  50 

Indiana,  a  Love  Story,  paper,.  1  50 
Do.  do.       cloth,...  1  75 

Consuelo  and  Rudolstadt,  both 
in  one  volume,  cloth, 2  00 


WILKIE  COLLINS'  BEST  WORKS. 

The  Crossed  Path,  or  Basil,....  1  50  |  The  Dead  Secret.     12mo 1  50 

The  above  are  each  in  paper  cover,  or  in  cloth,  price  $1.75  each. 


Hide  and  Seek, 75 

After  Dark, 75 

The  Dead  Secret.     8vo 75 

Above  in  cloth  at  $1.00  each. 

The  Queen's  Revenge, 75 


Mad  Monkton, 50 

Sights  a-Foot, 50 

The  Stolen  Mask, 25 

The  Yellow  Mask, 25 

Sister  Rose, 25 


MISS  PARDOE'S  WORKS. 


Rival  Beauties, 75 

Romance  of  the  Harem, 75 


Confessions  of  a  Pretty  Woman,       75 

The  Wife's  Trials, 75 

The  Jealous  Wife, 50 

The  five  above  books  are  also  bound  in  one  volume,  cloth,  for  $4.00. 
The  Adopted  Heir.     One  volume,  paper,  $1.50;  or  in  cloth,  $1.75. 
The  Earl's  Secret.    One  volume,  paper,  $1.50;  or  in  cloth,  $1.75. 

MRS.  HENRY  WOOD'S  BOOKS. 

Lord  Oakburn's  Daughters ;  or, 
the  Earl's  Heirs, 1 


Bister's  Polly, 1  50 

St.  Martin's  Evo, 1  50 


50 


Squire  Trevlyn's  Heir ;  or, 
Trevlyn  Hold, 1 

The  Castle's  Heir;  or,  Lady 
Adelaide's  Oath, ..  1 


Mildred  Arkell, 1  50 

Shadow  of  Ashlydyat, , 1  50 

Oswald  Cray, 1  50 

Verner's  Pride, 1  50 

Above  are  each  in  paper  cover,  or  each  one  in  cloth,  for  $1.75  each. 
The  Mystery, 75  |  A  Life's  Secret, 50 

Above  are  each  in  paper  cover,  or  each  one  in  cloth}  for  $1.00  each. 
The  Channings, 1  00  |  Aurora  Floyd, 75 

Above  are  each  in  paper  cover,  or  each  one  in  cloth,  for  $1.50  each. 


Red  Court  Farm, 75 

Orville  College 5^ 

The  Runaway  Match, 50 

The  Lost  Will,  and  the  Dia 
mond  Bracelet, 50 

The  Haunted  Tower, 50 


The  Lost  Bank  Note, 

Better  for  Worse, 

Foggy  Night  at  Offord, 

The  Lawyer's  Secret, 

William  Allair 

A  Light  and  a  Dark  Christmas, 


Books  r:nt,  postage  paid,  on  receipt   of  the  Retail  Price,  by 
T.  3.  Peterson  &  Brothers,  Philadolphia,  Pa. 


6     T,  B.  PETERSON  &  BROTHERS'  PULICATIONS. 


ALEXANDER  DUMAS'  WORKS. 


Count  of  Monto  Cristo,. 

The  Iron  Mask, 

Louise  La  Valliere, 


60 
00 
00 
00 
00 
75 
75 

Bragelonne, 75 

The  Conscript.   A  Tale  of  War,  1  50 


1 
1 
1 

Adventures  of  a  Marquis, 1 

Diana  of  Meridor, 1 

The  Three  Guardsmen, 

Twenty  Years  After, 


Memoirs  of  a  Physician, 

Queen's  Necklace, 

Six  Years  Later, 

Countess  of  Charney, 

Andree  de  Taverney, 

The  Chevalier, 

Forty-five  Guardsmen, 

The  Iron  Hand, 

Camille,  "The  Camelia  Lady/ 


The  above  are  each  in  paper  cover,  or  in  cloth,  price  $1.75  each. 


Edmond  Dantes, 75 

Felina  de  Chainbure, 75 

The  Horrors  of  Paris, 75 

The  Fallen  Angel, 75 

Sketches  in  France, 75 

Isabel  of  Bavaria, 75 


Man  with  Five  Wives, 

Twin  Lieutenants, 

Annette,  Lady  of  the  Pearls,.... 

Mohicans  of  Paris, 

The  Marriage  Verdict, 

The  Corsican  Brothers. 


Count  of  Moret, 60  |  George, 50  |  Buried  Alive, 

SAMUEL  C,  WARREN'S  BEST  BOOKS. 

Ten  Thousand  a  Year,... paper,  1  50  i  Diary  of  a  Medical  Student,, 
cloth,  2  00  I 


00 
00 
(10 
00 
00 
00 
75 
75 
50 

75 
75 

50 
50 
50 
50 
25 


75 


Do. 


do. 


a.  K,  PHILANDER  DOESTICKS'  WORKS. 

Doesticks'  Letters,.. 1  50  |  The  Elephant  Club, 1   50 

Plu-Ri-Bus-Tah, 1  50  '  Witches  of  New  York, 1  50 

The  above  are  each  in  paper  cover,  or   in  cloth,  price  $1.75  each. 
Nothing  to  Say,  cloth, 75 

GUSTAVE  AIMARD'S  WORKS. 

The  Freebooters, 50  Trapper's  Daughter, 75 

The  Prairie  Flower, 75  'The  Tiger  Slayer, 75 

The  Indian  Scout, 75  The  Gold  Seekers, 75 

The  Trail  Hunter, 75  The  Rebel  Chief, 75 

The  Indian  Chief, 75  The  Smuggler  Chief, 75 

The  Red  Track, 75  The  Border  Rifles, 75 

Pirates  of  the  Prairies, 75 

GOOD  BOOKS  FOR  EVERYBODY. 

The  Refugee, 1  50    Currer  Lyle,  the  Actress, 1  50 

Life   of  Don  Quixotte, 1  00    Secession,  Coercion,  and  Civil 

Wilfred  Montressor, 1  50       War 1  50 

Harris's  Adventures  in  Africa,.  1  50    The  Cabin  and  Parlor.     By  J. 

Wild  Southern  Scenes, 1  50        Thornton   Randolph, 1  50 

Life  and  Beauties  Fanny  Fern,  I  50    Memoirs  of  Vidocq,  the  noted 

Lola  Montez' Life  and  Letters,   1   50        French  Policeman, 1  50 

Lady  Maud ;  or,  the  Wonder  of  Kings-wood  Chase.    By  Pierce  Egan,  1  50 
Above  are  each  in  paper  cover,  or  each  one  in  cloth,  for  $1.75  each. 

Whitefriars;  or,  The  Days  of  Charles  the  Second.     Illustrated, 1  00 

Southern  Life,-  or,  Inside  Views  of  Slavery, 1  00 

The  Rich  Men  of  Philadelphia,  Income  Tax  List  of  Residents.......   1  00 

Political  Lyrics.     New  Hampshire  and  Nebraska.     Illustrated 12 

The  Married  Woman's  Private  Medical  Companion,  bound  in  cloth,.  1  00 


Books  sent,  postage   paid,  on  receipt  of  the  Retail   Price,  by 
T.  B.  Peterson  &  Brothers,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


T.  B.  PETERSON  &  BROTHERS'  PUBLICATIONS.    7 


GEORGE  W.  M.  REYNOLDS'  WORKS. 


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LIFE   OP  ANDREW  JOHNSON. 

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TRIAL  AND  EXECUTION  OF  THE  ASSASSINS. 

TRIAL  AND  EXECUTION  OF  THE  ASSASSINS  AND  CONSPI. 
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LIFE  OF  GENERAL  GEORGE  B.  McCLELLAN. 

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MOORE'S  LIFE  OF  HON.  SCHUYLER  COLFAX. 

THE  LIFE  OF  HON.  SCHUYLER  COLFAX.  By  the  Rev.  A.  Y.  Moore, 
of  South  Beud,  Indiana,  who  was  for  twelve  years,  as  pastor  and  friend,  in  the  entire 
confidence  of  Mr.  Colfax,  and  had  access  to  the  files  of  the  paper  published  by  Mr.  Colfax 
for  twenty  years,  and  to  the  Congressional  Globe  ;  knows  ail  his  past  history  and  all 
who  have  known  him  from  boyhood.  He  began  this  biography  two  or  three  years  ago, 
so  that  it  is  not  one  of  the  hurried  aud  ephemeral  publications  so  common  in  election  years. 
The  following  letter  from  Mr.  Colfax,  to  Kev.  A.  Y.  Moore,  will  explain  itself: 

'•  My  Dear  Mr.  Moore :-  "  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  May  30,  1868. 

"  As  your  prediction  of  a  year  ago  has  been  realized,  I  have  no  further  objection  to  your 
publishing  any  sketch,  more  or  less  full,  of  my  life,  you  may  have  prepared.  As  you  were 
for  a  dozen  years  a  fellow-townsman  of  mine,  and  a  valued  friend,  I  suppose  you  know  as 
much  about  my  history  as  the  public  would  care  about  knowing  ;  and  although  my  en 
grossing  duties  here  leave  me  no  time  to  revise  the  manuscript,  1  have  no  fear  that  your 
work  will  not  be  a  faithful  one.  "Yours,  very  truly,  "  SCHUYLER  COLFAX." 

"Rev.  A.  Y.  Moore,  South  Bend,  Indiana." 

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"GRANT  AND  COLFAX."— CAMPAIGN  EDITION, 

THE  LIVES  OF  GENERAL  GRANT  AND  HON.  SCHUYLER 
COLFAX.  Campaign,  Edition.  With  life-like  portraits  of  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant 
and  Hon.  Schuyler  Colfax,  and  other  illustrative  engravings.  This  work  contains  a 
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LIFE  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

ILLUSTRATED  LIFE,  SERVICES,  MARTYRDOM,  AND  FUNE 
RAL  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  Sixteenth  President  of  the  United  States. 
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LIFE  OF  GENERAL  GEORGE  G.  MEADE. 

THE  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  GENERAL  GEORGE  G.  MEADE, 

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Moore,  A.Y. 

The  life  of 
Schuyler  Colfax, 


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